Abby in the Country of Hearts
by lisa602
Summary: Abby lived a normal life, with a sister who wouldn't talk to the family, but loveable friends. All until Peter White took her down the hole into Wonderland where she learned of having to complete a role that would lead her to learn true love and friendship. Chapter 22 starts with a new character and will be even more loved than Abby.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Not all fangirls are mine, they are from other fanfics I have read

Morrigan, Ivy, and Styrr from **Atama Ga Kuru Teru**

Hinata and Sakura from **huge-issues**

Elizabeth (and Styrr again) from **Styrr Cobalt Indigo**

Skylar from **TheAnimeluver97**

Alex from **Tsukitayio239**

One  
I did my geometry test that day with ease, marveling at how easy it was when having paid attention in class while everyone else around me talked about their weekends. All the proofs and equations just surprised me as I wrote across the page and my fingers zoomed across the calculator.

There, it's done. I never liked going back and checking my work, so I just stood up and gave it to the teacher, hearing the groans of the other students. I tried hiding behind my long blonde hair as they did so, wishing I hadn't done it so quickly, but my head band kept my hair from helping.

I didn't mean to be so smart, but if they actually participated in class instead of hanging out, they wouldn't be so unhappy about the test that Mr. Wasowsky warned us about time and time again.

I looked over to Hati who smiled encouragingly; she was the only one of my three friends that was in my geometry class. Alicia and Lucy were actually in algebra since they couldn't take math the year before.

Hati had black hair with brown highlights and, I thought, the best way of thinking about things. She was crazy like Alicia and Lucy, but not so much that her common sense doesn't go away, it's the same for them but they like to take it to the extreme.

I went back to my seat to sit there and watch the clock. Just another twenty minutes, and I knew if anybody else saw they had that much time to chill out, they would instantly talk to their neighbor. But for me, I took the time to daydream. And I never had a certain one, because it would vary from being in the Star Wars movies to shape-shifting into another animal.

Suddenly, the bell rung, making me wonder how time passed that quickly. Lately when I started daydreaming, it would take a while to get out of it before I realize that something of an hour has passed and I still haven't done schoolwork.

I went to the rest of my classes, and all passed by quickly because we only had class discussions about a topic we were studying.

In my ninth period history class, I sat with Alicia, Hati, and Lucy at a table in the back while the teacher, Mr. Tiller, decided to spill out what had happened during the past month. He sometimes had those days where there would be no lesson and he would just talk about current events.

Alicia had brown hair and a couple freckles across her face, she was really sweet and came up with saying 'quack', some other animal sounds, or a type of food as replacements for bad words.

Lucy had long blonde hair and shared a sort of 'crazy' spotlight with Alicia; the two were inseparable friends, as much as they are with Hati and I. But whenever the two were together, it was as if they couldn't possibly be taken away from one another.

"So, how did you finish your test so quickly?" Hati whispered to me. We still couldn't talk, because Mr. Tiller thought this was still like class time.

"I studied like a mad person last night… I had to do something while my parents were having a little meeting in the other room that I couldn't be a part of." I said, remembering the horror of cramming everything we'd learned into my head. That was one of the reasons I never actually studied.

"I hate studying." Lucy said, and then pretended to take out an imaginary gun, "I keel you studying and homework. Ka-pow!"

We all giggled softly.

Then Alicia pretended to take her gun and say in a voice that sounded like Lucy's mother. "Now, now, we do not kill people or things."

I loved my friends.

"Hey, are you all free after school?" Lucy asked. "We could go to the park."

All of us agreed with each other.

I opened my locker and took my textbooks out, adding to the weight I already held upon my back. I was a sophomore, but my heavy back pack made me feel like I was a freshman again since it was really heavy then, too. Luckily it was a little lighter this year, but still.

I walked out the back door, since that was where my dad was supposed to get me in the parking lot. As I stood there, I realized he was late again, though I was patient knowing that getting an additional job was hard on him.

I finally saw the little black Saturn car making its way through the parking lot towards me, seeing my father inside. I ran in, saying "Hi!" I heard his 'hello' as I put my seat belt on and the car moved forward. "So, how was your day?"

"Oh, long and hard."

"Oh," I said, thanking the world that it was May and school would end in June. School was okay for me, but sometimes I just wanted it to be over with. Yet I still had two years to go, and then college.

"Mom emailed Meggie," he said as he drove.

Meggie was my oldest sister, and I had brother who was older than her, though there were complications. One was that we didn't know where she was. Two, we had no connection to her because she blocked our numbers and our emails. Three, she was angry at mom for a reason unknown to us.

"Really? It's about the thousandth time she's done so. What's different?" I asked.

"Well, mom emailed her from an account that she hadn't had before Meggie stopped talking to us."

That's where it became clear. Mom had another email account that she really liked after getting it, but Meggie didn't have that one in her address book.

"Did Meggie reply?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, and she basically said not to talk to her again or she will call the police."

When he stopped there, I wondered what else she said, but I didn't dwell on it. I was angry with her because she had stopped talking to me the month before my freshman year, and that was a time where I had wanted to hang out with her. Though, mom came up with the reason that it might be because I was giving mom information about her every time I hung out with her.

Dad and I were silent the rest of the way, listening to the radio. Wanting to stop thinking about Meggie, I thought about the fact that I was only fifteen, but I was going to be sixteen in the next three months. Last time I checked, I was to start driving lessons at that age.

The car drove up into the alley behind our apartment and parked in our designated spot. I got out of the car, and so did dad.

"Lunch time for you right now?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said with a happy voice, making me giggle, "Oh, and can you walk the doggie as I eat?"

We were walking up the steps to the apartment. I groaned on the inside at having to walk the dog, but instead I said, "Sure, no problem!" Curse my niceness.

Once inside, I put my stuff down in my room and went to the bathroom as my dad fed the dog his lunch. Dad always called him doggie or puppy when his name was Pepper, a small, gray miniature schnauzer.

I walked the dog in the back alley, making sure he had let everything out before moving to go back inside. That's when I saw it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw colors of white and red move through the bushes with quick speed. I wondered who, or what, it could possibly be.

I brought the dog inside and started my homework as my dad ate his lunch. I thought about what the strange thing could be, but it wasn't easy to know when all I saw were the colors zipping through the bushes.

I waited patiently, doing dimensional analysis for chemistry as I waited for my dad to go back to work. Once he'd finished, he said, "Okaaaaay! Time to goooo!"

"K, have fun!" I said as he got up and walked out the door.

I waited a good five to seven minutes before jumping up and running outside into the alley. I watched the bushes from behind a neighbor's car, waiting.

After about two minutes, I saw something move out and look around. It was a white rabbit in a red waistcoat. I felt my heart beat faster as I watched it. Was this someone's pet that ran away while they played dress-up with it?

The fact that made me dismiss the thought that the rabbit was a person's pet was when it looked in my direction and made a knowing smile. Or, should I say, what looked like a smile. I wasn't quite sure.

It bounced over to me and I realized at the last moment it had seen me when it stood in front of me with paws crossed.

I kneeled on the ground behind the car, watching it look me over and say, "Are you unable to get up? Come on!"

"Huh?" I asked, and I realized my mouth was agape as it watched me. I noticed it also had small spectacles, and its red eyes looked at me as if I knew what it wanted.

"Follow me!" it said impatiently.

That was when my body finally moved and I just sprinted away from it. I forgot, though, that rabbits are faster and noticed my mistake when it tripped me by running right in front of my path and waiting.

I lay on the ground in shock. This rabbit was smart. Though I thought that was all it could do when I found out I was wrong.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands grab me by the waist and hoist me over a shoulder.

"Wait a minute! What?" I asked as whoever held me was running in a certain direction. I turned to look at who kidnapped me and gasped.

It was a man with white hair and bunny ears with a red waistcoat. He could shape-shift!

"Hmm, good thing you're quieter than the others." he noted as he ran.

"Others!" I asked in shock. All the stories I had heard of girls disappearing and never coming back again? Was it this guy taking them? It couldn't be! I shut my eyes, trying to stop this daydream, but it wasn't ending, even as I pinched myself. "Put me down, please!" I shouted.

He stopped for about a second, letting me down on my feet, and then holding my arm as he started running again. I was doing my best to keep up with him, wondering where he was taking me. It didn't seem like he was kidnapping me, especially since he didn't blindfold me or tie my hands up.

"Hurry up, or the hole will close!" he shouted back to me as I saw a hole come into view.

"What are we doing with the hole?" I asked in shock as we reached it.

"Jump in!" he said as I tried to stop, and he only pulled me along until we fell down the seemingly never-ending hole.

We fell down, down, down, down, and down some more, and I looked up the entire time only to see the hole somehow closing up. I was hoping to see someone throwing some sort of rope down, but I saw that there was no way of that happening.

"Why did you do this?" I asked him in a shout, hoping he could hear me.

"To take you to-"

Everything blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Two

I woke up to find myself in a wide tiled area, and sat up feeling confused and sore. I had thought that I'd be dead when I landed, but since I lived, I would've thought I'd be in a lot of pain. The only part that hurt, though, was my head.

Looking around, it was a wide area, but then I saw the outline of the rabbit man walking towards me. When he reached me, he looked like he was in a world of happiness.

"Where have you taken me?" I asked him, trying to get up. The thing was, though, I couldn't move from my sitting position.

"Welcome to Wonderland," he said, beaming, and then taking a bow, "I am Peter White!" Then I saw him reach into his pocket and take a small, glass vial, the stopper shaped as a heart. "Abby, drink this."

"How do you-" I saved that question for later, wondering how he could possibly know my name when I didn't say it. "Why do I need to drink that?"

"It will all be explained after you drink it." Peter said, waving away the question as if it couldn't possibly be needed in such a hurry.

"Then I'm not drinking that." I said firmly, wondering if it could be some kind of whisky. I had never had alcohol or stuff like that, and I didn't plan to. After learning the effects, I would decline the substance any chance I got.

"Oh, come on," he said, sounding like a child I babysat when I told him it was time for bed. "You must drink this."

"I'm not drinking that." I said again, hoping he would get it and just leave me alone. I wasn't to get away with it so easily though.

He pouted, taking the stopper off of the top of it and advancing toward me. "So, how would you like me to force feed it to you? After what happened with Alice, I realize it wasn't the best choice I made…"

"How about no way?" I asked, still stuck in my position. "And why am I-"

I couldn't finish that last sentence because he suddenly opened my mouth with his hand and poured the contents into it. Covering my mouth with his hand, he said, "Swallow it and I will let you go."

I had no choice. It wasn't like the liquid tasted bad, because it was like water, tasting of nothing. I drank it and looked at him stonily.

He took his hand away and I could move once again. "Wait, where are you going?" I asked, noticing him walk away. "You haven't explained to me why you made me drink this."

"It will all be explained by the mortician. You'll meet him in a short bit, so just sit back and enjoy Wonderland." Peter said, disappearing as he covered more distance away from me.

I stood up, wondering why he told me to go to the mortician. Where would I go to find it anyways? I didn't understand where I was.

I picked up the vial and the stopper that Peter had so carelessly dropped to the ground and looked at it. I wondered why I would've possibly needed to drink it.

Looking around I saw a door and walked toward it, going in and closing it behind me. I was now in some sort of office where there were clocks on the table and the smell of coffee. I walked around, looking at every object.

Was it a clockmaker's office? Looking at the materials on the desk, I decided it was actually a clock repair shop.

"Hello?" a female voice said. I spun around quickly to see a beautiful girl with long black hair. She looked at me with curiosity. "Are you a foreigner?"

"Umm… I guess." I said, not sure what to do in the situation. I had somehow invaded her home without meaning to.

She nodded in understanding, as if it had happened to her before. She turned around to look into the kitchen. "Julius!"

A tall, broad man came out with really long blue hair. I watched him with awe, though not showing it, he was a very good-looking man. He watched me with violet eyes, and he seemed exasperated.

"Hello." I said politely.

"So, who are you?" he asked gruffly, not bothering to say hi back. I realized he was a little anti-social, which surprised me as to why this girl was with him since she seemed very kind.

"I'm Abby." I said.

"I'm Julius Monrey." he nodded. When he looked at the girl, I saw it was her cue that she should say her name as well.

"I'm Skylar." she added.

"So," Julius began, "What brought you here?"

"Peter White." I said, and it somehow seemed to explain everything.

Skylar shook her head and Julius buried his face in his hands. "He is going crazy trying to get foreigners here!" Skylar said.

"How many other foreigners has he brought here?" I asked.

"I can't even count how many, he's brought a lot." Skylar said.

"Why is he bringing a bunch of foreigners here?" I asked nervously.

"He keeps finding girls he thinks would fall in love with him, though they end up falling in love with other people or returning to their own world. So he just goes and gets another, though he isn't in love with all of them. Nightmare is usually the one who tells him to get someone." Julius said.

My stomach tightened and let loose. Peter probably didn't like me, because he didn't act as though he was in love. "I'm not sure that that's a very good thing." I said, feeling awkward.

"It's a terrible thing," Julius said, "It's going to be a land of foreigners someday because of his idiocy."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a bad thing." Skylar said thoughtfully.

"My dear, it might not be to you, but the thought of having more people with hearts instead of clocks sounds a bit mortifying." Julius said surprising me slightly.

"Umm..." I said, realizing something, "Peter gave me a vial that he made me drink from, and he told me to go to the mortician to find out what it does."

"That would be me," Julius said, surprising me. "Yes, I know, someone like me couldn't possibly be around dead bodies for too long. But that's not the kind of person he was talking about. What I do is repair clocks, which is what the people who live here have as hearts."

"People have clocks as hearts here…" I repeated, feeling a little uncertain.

He nodded. "And that vial you drank from had no ordinary liquid. What it does is it keeps you from leaving here."

"What?" I asked in shock.

Julius held up a finger. "But, if you interact with other Role-holders here, then the bottle will refill. That vial is your ticket home."

"What's a Role-holder?" I asked, looking at the vial. To my surprise, it had filled up a bit even though I was sure I drank it down to the last drop, so that meant that having just interacted with Julius, I am one step towards my way home.

"You can tell who's a Role-holder by looking at them, because they have faces. Also because they hold an important role in the Game.

"The Game is something nobody really knows the rules to, you just live here normally. But mostly, if a foreigner comes, they play the Game and then leave. Lately it's been a bit of a hassle because foreigners decide that they don't want to leave and stay here.

"People who aren't Role-holders just live like normal people basically, unless they live in Heart Castle, the Amusement Park, or the Hatter Mansion where they would work as servants. They are known as the Faceless.

"Those three different places I just explained to you are at war now, trying to get each other's land. It's a difficult time now because a lot of people die every day and I get clocks I must fix. Here at the Clock Tower, and also at Clover Tower, we are neutral zones, so we don't get a lot of trouble here.

"When I fix a clock, it goes back into the body of the assailant that was killed and they live again. They live until the next time they die. Basically like rebirth.

"Any questions?" he finally asked.

I shook my head, completely dumfounded. If this was one of my daydreams, it was way too complicated to remember certain things. Unless I fell asleep on the couch at home…

"We are here!" I heard two people call out from somewhere.

"Ugh, it took them long enough." Julius muttered under his breath while Skylar rubbed his shoulders.

In came a male and a female in hooded cloaks that were completely caked with dirt and blood. Both wore masks, and when they took the stuff off, I saw two knights. The male had brown hair and a red and black uniform, same as the girl who had reddish hair. The male surprised me, because he looked so familiar. Where had I seen him? Skylar and the other girl looked a little familiar, but something in my mind pushed it away.

"Who's this?" the girl asked, indicating me.

"Our new foreigner." Julius grumbled unhappily at their sudden entrance.

"Another one?" the man asked. "Man, no wonder Peter was looking so excited over the past few days."

"I told you he was going to try again!" the girl said, hitting him in the arm. That's when I noticed their swords, but they didn't see my glance.

The girl held her hand out. "I'm Styrr, nice to meet you."

"Abby." I said, shaking her hand.

The same went with the male who said, "I'm Ace."

I looked at him and thought about how innocent he looked with his bright smile and politeness, but the sword at his side stopped me from thinking any further on the matter. The blood from his cape especially kept me from thinking through his innocence.

"Why are you two always late?" Julius asked them sharply.

"Oh, come on Julius," Ace said playfully, "You know us. We can hardly walk a step without being lost."

How are they always lost if they've lived here for some time? I thought this to myself, wondering how it was possible for that to happen. I learned my way around my hometown a month after moving into it.

Julius groaned. "Whatever, I must get back to work."

"All right, well we're on our way to the castle," Ace said, getting up again and stuffing his and Styrr's cloaks into his pockets. "Hey, Abby. Do you want to come with? You can meet Vivaldi."

"Sure," I said, following them out the door. In the doorway, I turned to face Skylar and Julius, "Bye, see you later!"

"Bye!" they both said as I walked out the door, though Julius' sounded like a low grumble.

I followed Styrr and Ace outside of Julius' Clock Tower and out into the forest where I saw them walk around as if they knew where they were going. So I wondered if their statement about getting lost as soon as they started walking was just an overstatement.

We reached a place that looked more like a mansion than a castle, where two men guarded the gate. They looked to be twins, but somehow one had blue eyes and the other had red eyes, their uniforms were the same shade of navy blue as their hair but their ties matching the color of their eyes. I saw that the blue eyed twin had longer hair than the red eyed twin because they're backs were facing toward us.

As we approached, they swung around to face us with the large axes they had. They looked very menacing.

"Oh, Dee and Dum, what are you doing here?" Ace asked, as if they weren't pointing big axes at us.

The two relaxed and suddenly looked annoyed. "You're lost again." the red eyed one said.

"Really? Oh, we were so sure that this was Heart Castle!" Styrr said in surprise.

"I had a feeling this wasn't the castle," I said, "It looks more like a mansion."

"Exactly, it's Hatter Mansion," then he realized I wasn't someone he knew, "Are you a new foreigner?"

I nodded.

The two walked up to me and shook my hands. The blue-eyed one said, "I'm Dee," and the red-eyed one said, "I'm Dum."

"I'm Abby."

Suddenly two girls ran out through the gate and hid behind the twins. The one behind Dee had dark blue hair, much like his, and the one behind Dum had bright pink hair, which surprised me to see.

"Elliot is after us!" the pink-haired one said, giggling.

"Why?" Dum asked with a sly grin on his face.

"We made fun of his ears and called him a cute bunny rabbit, that's why!" the blue-haired one said almost hysterically.

Dee chuckled softly. "And how's Morrigan handling him?"

"She's trying to calm him down." the pink-haired one said, slinging her arms around Dum's neck.

It was then that the two girls noticed me and brightened happily, coming away from their protection. "Ooh, another foreigner!"

"No lies!" I heard being shouted. Turning, there was a man in a black and purple uniform with what I found not to be the ears of a rabbit, but a hare. He had orange hair and a gun pointed straight at the girls, who hid behind Dee and Dum again, but pointed their own guns at him.

Then I saw another girl run up to him and jump on his back, making him drop his gun and pull her off. She had curly brown hair and looked small next to him, but seemed to have the strength as she kept him from reaching for his gun.

"Please stop it, Elliot!" she pleaded him.

"But Sakura and Hinata are annoying me!" Elliot seemed to really want to pick up his gun and give a few shots in their direction. "Now they're saying something about another foreigner, which they know makes me think of that idiot of a rabbit!"

Morrigan looked in their direction to see me. "They weren't lying, it seems." she said, letting go of his hands.

Slowly, Elliot bent to pick up his gun, put it away, and turned to where she was staring. I waited at their surprise faded away and they came over to the small group. Sakura and Hinata came away from their hiding places to stare at me as well, seemingly agreeing that this stopped Elliot from trying to kill them.

To break the silence, Ace said, "Now that that's over, can someone please point us in the direction of Heart Castle?"

I had completely forgotten about Ace and Styrr, they'd been so quiet this entire time that I didn't realize they were still there. All the commotion had also made me forget about the fact that we had somewhere we wanted to go.

It was as if Ace had set another bomb.

"Why do you keep getting lost?" Elliot snapped at him. It seemed his temper was very short.

Morrigan touched his arm, making him look at her. She looked at him with a smile I saw as a very warm one, and she calmly secluded Ace and Styrr from the group to give them what looked like a map.

"Ugh, I can't believe them." Elliot muttered, then turning to me he said, "I'm Elliot March."

"Oh, be quiet, you stupid rabbit, Morrigan's taking care of the problem, and Abby's already heard your name more than once." Dum said, setting off a much bigger bomb.

Before Elliot could respond with what I guessed was to be a protest, I said, "He's not a rabbit."

Everyone around me literally looked at me with surprise and uttered a "Huh?"

"Well, I can see he is much bigger than Peter, broader and stronger. And the color of his hair and ears suggests more of a hare." I said observantly, making Elliot smile brightly.

"You must be blind." Dee and Dum said at the same time.

"No, what I'm noting is clearly the characteristics of a hare and not a rabbit. I'm not blind, and neither are you, you're just calling him a rabbit to get on his nerves." I said pointedly, making Elliot look totally overjoyed, and the twins' shoulders slumped in response.

Ace, Styrr, and Morrigan came back to the group and were shocked by how the two groups had switched personalities. Instead of the twins being extremely happy, it was Elliot, who had me in a tight embrace.

Morrigan was laughing. "Elliot! What did she do to make you so happy?"

"She's taking my side in the knowledge that I am not a rabbit!" he said excitedly, had he not been so in love with Morrigan, he probably would've been spinning me around like a long lost love.

Dee and Dum tried pulling him off of me with difficulty. Dum finally said, "Sakura dear, could you help?" The pink-haired girl went to his side while Dee did the same for Hinata, the blue-haired girl. This, at least, helped me see who was who of the girls. All of this also made me wonder if everyone in Wonderland was in love with an outsider. It would make it a country of hearts.

They all finally decided to stop trying to get him off of me and he got off on his own, then he winked at me. It was his own little joke to show how much stronger he was than the twins; he wasn't trying to be creepy like Peter.

Morrigan leaned against him satisfactorily; he brought his arms around her protectively and kissed her on the head. This made me realize she knew his little joke, so she leaned against him to make sure he was still hers. I stepped away and next to Styrr, who watched the scene with glee.

"They're so cute together," she whispered to me as Ace studied the map, "You should've seen how surprised the twins were when it happened. They were the ones to introduce her to him, so you can imagine how disappointed they were to make Elliot so happy."

I laughed. It was funny, because I knew so much about them already to know they liked torturing Elliot as much as possible. Giving him something that keeps him happy must have really annoyed and surprised them.

Suddenly Styrr grabbed mine and Ace's arms and started running away. I didn't realize why until I heard Elliot's shouts and guns being fired. It was a wonder they didn't hit each other.

Once out of sight, Styrr and Ace looked at the map intently. Both decided they didn't want to try to learn how to read it because it was too hard to remember where things were anyways.

When they were about to drop it in the mud, I snatched it in midair and looked at it intently. Then I started walking in the direction to Heart Castle, with Styrr's and Ace's protests of me not going the right way. Yet they followed me without stopping me.

Some time later I looked up to see a large castle and walked toward it, Styrr and Ace following me finally without protest. I folded up the map and put it my jeans pocket, then realizing that all the other foreigners had been wearing dresses. I would probably have to change into something more appropriate, a dress basically, if I was to be alive in this place any longer.

The place was gorgeous. Though, once I saw the queen, everything else seemed to fall right underneath her beauty.

"Hey, Vivaldi!" Ace called out, making the gracious woman turn around and scoff at the two knights.

"Late, again!" she snapped at him, "Do this anymore, and we won't hesitate to behead you!"

I noted how impatient she was.

"What am I late for?" Ace asked, again as if nothing was threatening him. It really surprised me how he acted as if he was in the best place in the world; where nothing bad happened.

"Our tea party! Surely, you haven't forgotten what we planned?" she asked him angrily.

"Who is she referring to when she says 'our' and 'we?'" I whispered to Styrr after making sure Vivaldi had all of her attention on Ace before making the move.

"Just herself. She says it's a formal way of showing her power over us." Styrr whispered back in the same manner. Then she stood up straight and walked up to Ace's side, pulling me along with her.

"Please, Vivaldi, you know how Ace and I are, we have a bad sense of direction." Styrr said formally.

"Terrible sense, but go on." Vivaldi sniffed angrily.

"Part of the reason we're late is because we met up with a new foreigner, the girl you see here was taken here by our lovely ambassador." Styrr said.

I admit, I snorted learning that the white rabbit was the ambassador, especially when he threw me over his shoulder in order to get me moving. It just wasn't something I'd expect an ambassador to do.

Vivaldi sighed, "Well, we would like some more company. What's your name?"

"I'm Abby, and it's very nice to meet you." I said, somehow deciding to do a little curtsy. This movement brought a grin to Vivaldi's face.

"We like you already!" she said happily. She then led us to a large courtyard where there was a table all set up for a tea party. "You are to sit next to us." Vivaldi proclaimed to me.

I didn't argue. Though I was usually against people telling me what I had to do, but it was somewhat different with Vivaldi. She was so elegant about it and was actually excited to talk to me.

I sat next to her and hardly touched my tea, because I was too intrigued in my conversation with her. She talked about everyday life in Wonderland and about the first foreigner here living at the Hatter Mansion and having wedded the man in charge, Blood Dupre. I shivered at his name, but she didn't notice.

"Ah, Alice is such a dear. Though she lives with Dupre, we still allow her to visit. She should be here right now, but she did warn me she'd be late. So any second…" Vivaldi said.

When I heard the name Alice, I had to guess that she was still talking about the wife of Blood Dupre. Ace and Styrr moved restlessly around in their seats, making me wonder what was making them so uncomfortable. Could it possibly be the idea of Alice coming in?

Suddenly I heard, "You say my Alice is coming?"

I turned to see Peter White. I knew he couldn't be the Blood Dupre, especially since I was sure Elliot really didn't like Peter, and worked for Blood freely. So, this must mean that he brought Alice here, because he was in love with her. She was one who fell for someone else.

"Well, not your Alice. Your Alice doesn't exist." Vivaldi sniggered.

Peter looked crestfallen at her words, but said nothing more against her rude words. Instead his ears perked, and I watched as a few castle guards led a young lady over to their table, much to Vivaldi's and Peter's joy.

The moment she was in front of Vivaldi, Peter pounced on her. "Oh, my lovely Alice, I'm so happy to see you!" he said happily.

"Oh, Peter, get off of me!" she shouted out irritably.

"Why would I do that when I haven't seen you in such a while?" he said.

"For one, I'm married to someone else, and two is you shouldn't be touching me in such a way or Blood will come after you." Alice said.

He reluctantly let go of her, watching her walk up to Vivaldi with longing in his eyes. It made me feel down; he only wanted someone to love him.

Vivaldi stood up to hug Alice, and Alice embraced her happily. They were very close friends it seemed.

Then introductions were made to me, but somehow I wasn't paying attention. Ace and Styrr noticed this because they were paying more attention to me than to Alice.

"Abby?" Styrr asked, snapping me from my state of thought.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"What are you looking at?" Ace asked. I saw his concern.

"Umm, I was just looking at how beautiful the gardens were and got lost in thought." I said. I had been looking at the flowers and seeing some white and some red, but the red ones I saw looked like they had paint on them. And it confused me.

"Oh, we are pleased to hear you say that!" Vivaldi said gratefully.

As she went on with Alice about how wonderful I was, I looked at one of the soldiers. I would've said we were looking each other in the eyes, but he had no face, so I couldn't actually say that's what it was that made me see he'd been afraid when I was talking about the garden. I put my finger to my lips to show their secret was safe, and he loosened his muscles, relaxed.

I looked back at the conversation and noticed Ace and Styrr trying to make their own conversation with each other.

"Dismissed!" Vivaldi said, walking into her gardens with Alice right next to her.

I followed Ace and Styrr away from the castle and waited until we were in the forest to ask them about their behavior.

"I noticed you were very uncomfortable when Vivaldi said Alice was coming, and especially when Alice was right there. Why is that?" I asked timidly, hoping they weren't going to attack me for asking.

Styrr sighed, "Nothing gets by you does it?"

I shook my head.

They stopped at one point to face me.

Ace began, "When Alice first came here she changed everyone in Wonderland. Everyone fell in love with her because of her love of life, even I fell for her."

Styrr added, "Alice actually hated Blood after meeting him, and neither of us really know what made him so different from everyone else. It's between her and Blood and we think Nightmare as well."

Suddenly the daytime turned into nighttime as they watched my expression. I was confused by both instances, which was the story of Alice, the new person known as Nightmare, and the fact of the time changing.

"I was wondering why the day was so long, but why did it change so suddenly?" I asked, completely surprised by it.

The two seemed extremely happy that I changed the subject and seemingly decided that I had forgotten the subject before.

"Time is different here than in the other world. The time changes randomly here, but it is the way it is, and it doesn't go in any particular order." Styrr said.

I stared back at her in surprise. "That is going to ruin my sleeping order." I said, making the two burst out laughing.

Soon afterwards, we were all in the tent that Ace somehow kept in his pocket. The thing about it was that he also held his and Styrr's cloaks in there as well, so the small pockets I saw made me wonder how big they actually were if they could hold all that and not bulge.

Styrr slept in the middle while Ace and I slept on either side. I fell asleep soon after the light from the lantern he had went off.

In my dream, there was no certain ground. Everything was of dark and light colors all mixed together; green, gray, blue, and purple were most of what I saw. I stood around, waiting for something to happen until a man showed up.

He had dark gray hair, but he wasn't as old as one would expect from someone with gray hair. He looked to be in his early twenties, like everyone else I had met in Wonderland, and wore an eye patch over his right eye.

"Hello, Abby," he said formally, "I am Nightmare Gottschalk."

"Oh, good I have a couple questions!" I said excitedly. "First one, why are you in my dream?"

"I am an incubus; I control your dreaming and can read your mind." Nightmare said, making me wonder what he saw in my head. Probably a bunch of math and chemistry problems.

"Okay," I said uncertainly, "Next question is this. Why did Peter take me to Wonderland?"

"I believe you can help two very important Role-holders," he said, surprising me, "These certain Role-holders, you need to find out for yourself, but they are going through difficult times so you know."

"How would I know who they are, though?" I asked, wondering why he would put me on a mission when I hardly knew what it was. I still didn't understand Wonderland, everyone was odd, but somehow I was content. It felt better than going to school where I got straight A's.

"You'll know," he said with a smirk, "And you will learn about Wonderland a lot more in the weeks to come."

"I can't stay here for weeks," I argued, "My family must be missing me right now!"

"Don't you worry about it." Nightmare said, and I decided to listen to him. If I was wrong, I could always blame him.

"My next question is why Ace does look so familiar?" I said, looking at him expectantly.

He smirked again. "I can give you some clues, you'll find it out right here in the dream world."

"Then give them to me!" I said, making gestures that brought a small chuckle from him.

"A close family member who always helped you through hard times, and then couldn't because he made a new family with his girlfriend." Nightmare said, igniting a flame in me.

"My brother." I said breathlessly.

He nodded.

After a few moments, I asked, "Why?"

"It happens with a couple of the foreigners who come here; the two I will tell you that this happened to is Sakura and Alice." Nightmare said.

"Alice? Who was familiar to her?" I asked him. "And why? As who?"

"Ask her." Nightmare said, making me growl internally. "No need to growl, Alice and Sakura live in the same house, so you can ask both of them at the same time."

Suddenly, the dream world started to fade away. Then I woke up in my bed, feeling slightly irritated that I had to find the Hatter Mansion. I was with Styrr and Ace, so it would be difficult since they would keep going off in the wrong direction.


	3. Chapter 3

Three

Ace and Styrr went off in their own direction while I went on mine. They explained that they had something they needed to do, and since they were putting their cloaks and masks on, I didn't object.

As I walked, I couldn't stop thinking about Ace. He really did look like my brother, I have three, but the one I'm talking about is the youngest one. It was so confusing as to why he looked like him.

I reached the Hatter Mansion, wondering if Alice even made it home after talking to Vivaldi. Momentarily, I had lost my sense of vision and wondered if the two were still talking, and then I bumped into an enraged Elliot.

He calmed down when he saw it was me. I had fallen over from the impact and he helped me up.

"Sorry, Elliot. I just came to have a word with Alice and Sakura." I told him.

"Oh, sure, I will get them. Just follow me, I will lead you to a room where you can have a private conversation with them." Elliot said, walking into the mansion.

"Thank you," I said, and then I realized the twins weren't there, "Where did Dee and Dum go?"

"They're skipping work again, as they always do. It's gotten worse since Sakura and Hinata came into Wonderland, but not as much as when they were in their children forms." Elliot said hotly.

"Excuse me, but… children forms?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, they can switch from adult form to child form, but they stay in adult form because of their lovers." Elliot explained.

"Well, it would make sense, especially thinking of how awkward it would be to date children." I noted.

"They act like children, those brats." Elliot muttered, walking into a library where Alice was reading a book. "Alice," he said humbly, he apparently liked her as well since he didn't sound as annoyed as when he was with the twins, "Abby wants to speak to you and Sakura."

I looked around the library, it was amazing to see all the different books in there. I just wanted to pick one up and flip through it. One that was either science fiction or fantasy, especially since I was feeling that I was within one.

Looking up, she recognized me and said, "Of course." Alice then put a bookmark in the book, put it down, and started walking out of the room, gesturing for me to follow her.

I did so, leaving Elliot behind as she walked out and into the back where the twins, Sakura, and Hinata played around a large table meant, it seemed, for tea parties. I didn't understand what it was with people here and the tea parties.

"Sakura," Alice called, making everyone stop as I hung about in the doorway, "Can we have a talk?"

"Sure," Sakura said timidly, walking up to Alice as though she was about to be punished.

"Nothing's wrong, just a little chat." Alice said as Sakura and I followed her back into the mansion. Then we went into a little room with some chairs where we pulled them up to each other.

Alice looked at me and Sakura did the same, unsure of what was happening.

I felt nervous, I never had to go into a private room with a few people to discuss something that seemed important. "I- um, wanted to discuss the situation of meeting someone in Wonderland that looks familiar to you personally."

The two jumped at my inquiry.

"Nothing's wrong about it," I said hurriedly, "It's just that I've met someone here who looks painfully familiar. And when I told Nightmare about it in dream world last night, he told me to ask you two."

Both were quiet for some time. Then they looked at each other and nodded an agreement to something I couldn't see.

"Well, we would like to know who is familiar to you first before we explain anything." Alice said kindly, and I understood well enough not to question their hesitance.

"You two know who Ace is, right?" I asked, earning a nod from the two of them. "The thing is that he looks like my brother from the other world. It's a painful familiarity and I can't place why it is like that."

Both mouths were open.

"I have that same predicament with Boris!" Sakura explained, earning a questioning look from me. "Oh, I guess you haven't met him yet. He lives at the Amusement Park, and when I first met him, he looked like my twin brother except for the fact that my brother doesn't have cat ears and a tail."

"So he's kind of like Peter and Elliot in which they're part animal and part human?" I asked.

They nodded.

Alice said, "Unlike you two, the person that was most familiar to me was Blood. When I came here, it freaked me out to see that he looked exactly like my ex from the other world."

I was in shock. Two people found Role-holders that looked like their brothers and one found a Role-holder that looked like her ex.

"Now Blood and I are together, and it's almost as if I don't have an ex anymore." Alice explained.

"Almost the same with Boris and I, except we are really close like brother and sister." Sakura said happily.

"There's someone else that lives in Wonderland now who found a Role-holder that looks like someone they know. Except that the Role-holder looked like her teacher instead of a brother or ex." Alice said, surprising me once more.

"Who would that be?" I asked.

"Her name is Alex, and she lives at Clover Tower with Nightmare and Gray. She's with Gray." Sakura said.

As we went back to where we left Dee, Hinata, and Dum, I thought about how nice Alice was. Why would Ace and Styrr be so uncomfortable around Alice just because everyone loved her when she first came? From the way she was like, she must not have meant to.

Another thing that was on my mind was my confusion as to why some of the Role-holders looked familiar to outsiders. Ace was familiar to me, Blood was familiar to Alice, Boris, whoever that was, was familiar to Sakura, and someone was familiar to Alex. Alice didn't actually explain who it was.

I decided not to ponder on it any longer than I really needed to, for I had a feeling I might find out later. Besides, I didn't want to look like I had an air of disappointment, which I didn't, but that's usually what my expression looked like when I was thinking.

Though, there was one more person outside who was unfamiliar to me. I only found out who he was because Alice went up to him and they kissed. True love…

The thing I found surprising was how sweet and kind Alice was, she was so full of life and happiness. Blood, on the other hand, looked dark and mysterious. The two were very sweet to each other, and it made me wonder how it would be like to have a successful relationship with someone.

Opposites attract…

"Abby… Abby… Abby!" Sakura shook me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?" I asked, looking at her in a daze.

"I want to introduce you to my brother, come on!" she said pulling my arm as well as Dum's. Dee and Hinata followed soon after.

"Wait, come back, you two need to be at the gates!" Elliot called after us, but the twins didn't listen of course, they kept running with the girls and, unfortunately, me in between.

We ran in a direction I had never gone through before and wondered where exactly they were taking me. But I decided not to ask, they were all in such happy moods at the moment.

Soon we were in front of the largest lot of land in Wonderland I had ever seen. As the quadruple called it, the Amusement Park, I realized this was another piece of land that Julius had talked about being in war with Heart Castle and Hatter Mansion.

"What do you think?" Sakura asked as she pulled me in with Dum. I could just see Hinata and Dee going in another direction as the two drove me through the park.

"It's… huge." I said.

They both laughed at my comment. "No kidding!" Dum said as both pushed me through the park, seemingly looking for someone in particular.

"Um, what are we-" I was interrupted by Dum, Sakura, and I almost hitting into a tall man in a really yellow suit. He had reddish brown hair in a short braided ponytail, wore glasses, and carried around a violin.

"Why, hello you two! Who is it you have here?" the man asked Dum and Sakura kindly, he seemed like a nice man, but both seemed very afraid of something.

"Hi, I'm Abby, nice to meet you." I said. Dum and Sakura slapped their hands on their faces, as though I'd just done the worst thing possible.

His smile brightened in response. "My name is Gowland… would you like to hear some music?" he raised his violin in bow as a gesture that that was what he would play.

I was about to answer a "sure" when Sakura put her hand over my mouth and she and Dum both sputtered out explanations that we were late for a meeting they were having and couldn't be late any further. Dum and Sakura sped me away from him.

"Maybe next time then!" he shouted after them, a happy grin still on his face, and then he walked in the opposite direction.

Once we were out of earshot from him, they let go of my mouth and Dum said, "You do _not_ want to hear him play music! He is _terrible_."

"He can't be that bad, can he?" I asked.

"Think of the worst music you've ever heard and triple it times a thousand." Sakura said, and that really made me wonder just how it sounded. Though from what it seemed, these two were happy they could get out of listening to him play it.

They still led me around, looking. I wandered when to ask them what they were looking for, but they were looking around so intently.

"Looking for me?" a voice behind us asked.

Sakura and Dum jumped and whirled around in surprise while I turned around at a normal pace and hadn't jumped. While the couple was getting over their little heart attack, I stood there calm and collected and looked at the newcomer.

He was kind of like Elliot and Peter in which he was kind of part animal and part human, except instead of rabbit or hare, he was a cat. He had pink hair, ears, and tail. He wore a black vest and black shorts, one glove on his right hand, with his belly button (which had a piercing) showing, which had tattoos over it, and tattoos under his eyes. There were also multiple piercings on his ears and tail, and it made me think of a punk.

The thing I found that was strange were the chains I saw coming from the pink collar around his neck and the pink belt on his glove, they didn't really attach to anything to hold him somewhere, so I wondered what the point was of them being there.

"Boris, dear brother, don't scare us like that!" Sakura said, hugging him tightly.

He hugged her back and said, "Sorry, it was kind of funny though, you have to admit that."

Her hands slapped his back lightly, and he did the same. It was a very sweet brother and sister moment.

So this was the person of Wonderland whom Sakura thought looked so much like her own brother back at home. He seemed like a very nice person.

"Hem-hem, sorry to ruin the brother and sister reunion after a day has passed, but we have someone we would like you to meet, Boris." Dum said, making the two break apart to look at him and stick their tongues out. "Ha-ha, very funny and immature, now come on."

Sakura gave Boris a peck on the cheek and ran back into Dum's arms, it was a sweet picture. The two stared into each other's eyes adoringly as Boris waited to be introduced to me, but they were lost it seemed.

I gave a soft chuckle, "Hi, I'm Abby."

"Boris Airay," he said with a nod of his head, "A new foreigner. So how do you like it here in Wonderland?" His golden eyes seemed to search my every aspect as I spoke, he was intrigued.

"It's very nice, actually. Though, apparently I hear Gowland isn't good at music and yet he plays the wrong way anyways." I wasn't actually sure that I was right, since I was only assuming, but it was met with a vigorous nodding from Boris.

"If you hear his music, your eardrums will burst!" he said, raising his arms to show just how badly it seemed to be.

I laughed. "You must be exaggerating!"

"No, I'm not. Did you pass by him on the way in?" he asked.

"Yeah, and he asked if I wanted to hear him play his violin, but Dum and Sakura put their hands over my mouth before I could speak and told him we were busy." I said.

"Nobody wants to hear him play, see? You were lucky that time, sometimes he really insists on playing for people." Boris said.

"Well, what does his playing sound like?"

"Screeching, and his singing is so off-key, I just… ugh." Boris shivered.

I laughed again and Boris looked pretty proud of himself after I stopped.

"Hey, you two!" Boris said, looking at Dum and Sakura.

They didn't budge.

I went up to them and started poking Sakura, wandering if they had suddenly become statues the moment they moved into the position. Looking at them, I could see just how oblivious they were to what Boris and I were doing.

Boris went up behind Dum and nodded to me, together we pulled the two apart from each other and they snapped awake. Both of us held them until they realized it was just us holding on to them.

"Do you guys always do that?" I asked as we let them go.

"What?" Dum asked with a mischievous grin.

Sakura laughed, "Sometimes we hardly ever get a moment to ourselves without there being some sort of interruption. We do that a couple times at the mansion whenever Dum has guard duty and is really bored."

"Dee and Hinata can't do it as well as us, we're skilled as a love statue." Dum said proudly.

I shook my head. This was indeed a strange place.

"Hey, Abby," Boris said suddenly, "Do you want to go on a rollercoaster?"

"Sure," I said excitedly, "I love rollercoasters!"

"Really?" Dum asked in surprised. "From how smart and calm you are I thought you'd be saying 'no, it's too dangerous' or 'it's too scary.'"

Once he started laughing, Sakura punched his arm and said, "Don't say that to her, we've just gotten to know her!" then she whispered in his ear, unaware that Boris and I could hear her quite clearly, "She may be sensitive!"

"Are you?" Boris asked me pointedly.

"Clearly not," I said, "If I was then I probably would've burst into tears at what Dum said. Though it's okay, I've been through worse."

"Oh, sorry," Sakura said, "I just need time to Dum if I'm to start thinking straight again, but don't worry, I will get to know you! How about you two go on some rollercoasters while we just stroll around the park?"

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Boris said.

"No problem!" I said and they walked away, hand in hand.

"Let's go!" Boris said excitedly, grabbing my hand and running toward the biggest roller coaster I had ever seen. It made me excited as well, remembering how fun the Expedition Everest from the Animal Kingdom in Disney World had been. That had become my favorite rollercoaster ever.

As we stood in line, Boris looked longingly ahead, as though he really wanted me to see just how amazing the ride was. I could certainly believe from his expression that it would be really fun.

"So how long has the Amusement Park been here?" I asked, making conversation.

"As long as anyone can remember," Boris said simply with a shrug, "No one ponders on it since it's been here as long as the Heart Castle and Hatter Mansion have been standing. And we've been fighting for territory for most of the time."

"Yeah, but the other two territories have tea parties and this place, so far, probably has the more amazing parties. You know, parades and-" I was cut off by the sound of a scream that was right by my ear.

"Oh, you stupid rat!" Boris snarled.

I looked behind me to see a boy of about our age trying to hide behind me, and I noticed very clearly his ears. "He's not a rat, he's a dormouse." I said, earning a small grin from the boy as he hid from Boris.

"Chu, why are you with scary cat here?" he asked nervously.

"He's about to show me the ride. What's your name?" I asked, realizing I hadn't gotten his name yet, he was someone new.

"Pierce Villiers," he said, tipping his hat even though it was covering one of his ears, "And the lovely lady's?"

I heard Boris growl in the background.

"I'm Abby, I'm new here." I said, looking at him thoroughly. He had bags under his eyes from very light sleep, Orange hair with yellow highlights, and very dark green eyes.

"Yeah, now that introductions are done… shoo." Boris said to Pierce who responded immediately, running off in another direction.

I giggled softly.

"Is that giggle for me or for the scared one there?" Boris asked with dislike toward the poor dormouse.

"Simply the way you act around each other, is it always like that?" I asked.

"Mostly," he said, "Yeah, I even chase him around with him yelling 'don't eat me!' And I'm of course still chasing him and it torments him to the bone."

I couldn't help myself, I actually laughed. I knew it was bad of Boris to scare Pierce so much, but the problem was it was his nature… cats disliked mice and there was nothing I could do about it.

Yet my laugh made Boris even happier.

Before he could say anything, we came up into the seats of the rollercoaster. It went by a lot faster having someone to talk to as I waited in line, usually the lines would seem dreadfully long since I liked walking around parks by myself.

We sat in the very front of the ride, and Boris asked me, "Are you afraid of heights or anything? 'Cause we can get off now if you're uncomfortable."

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, I have no fear of heights." I said, which calmed him down.

Then the ride started moving slowly across, then going up a long hill. It went high up into the air so that we could see the whole of the Amusement Park. Suddenly, we went down at a really fast speed, making the people behind us scream at the top of their lungs. The fun thing with Boris though, he was having fun and I was having fun, we just weren't screaming.

I had always thought screaming was too much of a strain. Girls screamed when they saw a famous guy they really liked, guys shouted when they saw a really hot famous girl they liked, and pretty much everyone screamed with horror movies and rollercoasters. I didn't think people really had to scream though, as it usually led to loss of voice.

The ride went through a variety of twists and turns and loops. When it went to a dead end, that's when I really got excited… I knew we were going to have to go backwards. Boris knew it too and before anyone had a chance to breath, the rollercoaster moved back. It went through everything we had gone through before and back to the starting point.

Everyone sped off except for Boris and I, we took our time, savoring the moments of complete ecstasy in the exciting ride. We raved about it as we walked through the park and found Dee and Hinata.

"Where's Sakura and Dum?" Hinata asked as we reached them.

"Oh, they left us to be alone, but you would not believe which ride we were just on!" I said, completely ignoring the fact that we had no idea where the pair had gone off to.

When they gave us questioning looks, Boris pitched in, "The biggest and largest roller coaster ride in the park!"

They were shocked.

"Abby, I can't believe you let Boris trick you into getting you to go on that!" Hinata said with a tone that surprised me and, noting my expression, she went on. "He did that with Sakura and she ended up in the nurse's wing because of her fright. Dum went on a rampage."

"He didn't force me or trick me on," I told them, "He merely asked me if I wanted to go on it and I complied without question. Yes, I could see it was the biggest one, but I wanted to go on as well."

Their mouths went agape and Boris pulled me away once again, bringing us into the house of mirrors.

"Sorry, I had a feeling we were going to be in that same conversation about you being sensitive like with Dum and Sakura. I think Dee and Hinata can find them and talk about it without us needing to explain it again." Boris said.

He was very thoughtful.

"Oh, no worries, that's a good reason. It is annoying to have to explain things over and over again to people." I said.

We walked through the house of mirrors, stopping once in a while to laugh at how the mirrors made us look. Fat, skinny, etc. There was one I found where it made my head look bigger than my body, when looking at Boris on it, it reminded me of those little toys that first came out as McDonald happy meal toys. I used to have a lot of them…


	4. Chapter 4

Four

When we came out, it was face to face with Gowland and his violin. Boris fidgeted on the spot, eyeing the violin with certain fright.

"Why, Abby nice to see you, and now with Boris. You can probably listen to my music now, right?" he asked excitedly.

"Umm…" I said trying to find an excuse that wouldn't make Gowland disappointed. "Actually, Boris was just about to show me to the Clover Tower, I haven't met the people there yet."

"Oh, I shall accompany you, I still owe a favor for Julius." Gowland said, putting his violin away and making Boris sigh in relief.

"Isn't Julius at the Clock Tower?" I asked in confusion.

"Oh, the Clock Tower and Clover Tower are in the same area, they're, as you might say, attached. It's just that Julius sometimes won't have lunch with the rest of his comrades because he insists on working on his clocks. Luckily he has Skylar to give him food when he needs it." Gowland said, already leading us in the direction of the Clover Tower.

Boris and I walked behind Gowland as he took the lead, babbling most of the way about how Julius was his closest friend.

"Why?" I asked.

"Eh?" he asked back, shocked at the sudden question.

"Why is he your closest friend when he's so unsociable? Not to be rude or anything, I'm merely just curious." I said.

"Well, um…" he was having difficulty forming his sentence.

"Because he's the only guy in Wonderland that doesn't make fun of his name." Boris said with a snigger.

Gowland's face reddened tremendously.

"What's so funny about his name?" I asked in confusion.

"It's Mary!" Boris said, bursting out laughing.

Mary stopped walking and just stood there, fuming.

I didn't laugh. Though Mary Gowland sounded a bit like merry go round.

"Well?" Mary asked me furiously. "Go ahead and laugh, get it over with as I've already been through this process with outsiders more than once."

"Why would I laugh? It's your name and I will treat it as such." I said, watching Boris and Mary look at me open mouthed with wide eyes. Seeing the Clover Tower in the distance, I walked toward it, not bothering to wait for the two to catch up, which they did.

"You're different." Mary said, taking the lead. He sounded dreary, but watching his face closely, I saw a smile tug at the edges of his mouth. "But not extremely different."

Boris and I walked side by side behind him, mouthing to each other the entire way so that Mary wouldn't hear our conversation. He was confused as to why I didn't find it funny, and I said back that I did but I wasn't showing it, I was always taught to respect other people's names, no matter how bizarre.

Once we reached Clover Tower, we went inside were met by a tall man with raven colored hair, yellow eyes, and a lizard tattoo on his neck. He saw me instantly.

"Hello, I'm Gray, nice to meet you." Gray said.

"I'm Abby; it's nice to meet you, too." I said back, wondering how many hellos I'd said since getting here and how many times I said my name.

"Come on in," he said, gesturing us in through the tower. "Nightmare is looking forward to meeting you in person."

I showed my scowl to Boris, Nightmare annoyed me.

We went into this large workroom where Nightmare sat at a table, rolling a pencil around as if he were listening to a teacher and got bored. His lone eye watched the pencil in boredom, his other hand holding his head up as he leaned on the desk.

Gray cleared his throat and Nightmare looked up to meet my eyes, he was indeed very happy to see me.

"Finally! Okay, Gray, you finish up my paperwork while I talk with Abby." Nightmare sprang forward towards me and then stood before. He collected himself before leading the way out of the study.

"Nightmare, you didn't even start!" Gray shouted as I followed Nightmare, with Boris beside me, through the hallways.

"Where'd Mary go?" I whispered to Boris.

He smirked a little before saying, "He went to check on Julius."

Nightmare led us into a little room before sitting down, looking very businesslike. There were two other chairs and a coffee table with tea cups filled with hot water and tea bags.

"Please, sit." Nightmare said, gesturing toward the chairs and then putting a tea bag into the cup of hot water before him.

We sat. I instantly went toward a mint tea bag and placed it in my cup. This was my most favorite type of tea. I looked at Nightmare expectantly… he looked deadly serious. He sipped his tea, watching me closely.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him, a nervous laugh caught in my throat as he stared.

"You have different thoughts than the other foreigners who come here… you like reading books and sitting around in the quiet, yet you also like loud places where you listen to people talk or, in the case of the Amusement Park, listen to people scream and laugh. As for school, you love to learn, but you don't like going to an actual public school." Nightmare looked at me with deep interest.

"I'm also thinking, as you've probably just guessed listening to my thoughts, that it's rather rude to just zone in on what someone's thinking. You might just hear something they don't want you to know." I said, taking a sip of my tea to hide the scowl I had.

"Well, sorry, but it's not like I can help myself, it's part of my nature." Nightmare said, and I could just feel his eyes searching through my head.

I sighed, he was really trying to make it difficult for me. "So, I did as you said to do in dream world last night… I went to talk to Sakura and Alice and got the answers I needed."

"Who else?" he asked.

"No one else, you only said those two." I said.

"But I also said those were the only two I was giving to you. There's one more foreigner you haven't spoken to who has also seen a Role-holder look like someone they know."

I let out a breath of exhilaration, he had me right under his thumb.

"Who was Sakura's?" Boris asked, trailing it to him which I was grateful for, Nightmare was a bit of a bother on my head.

"You of course." Nightmare said.

When Boris gave me a questioned look I said, "You look a little like her brother, and she's comfortable with you."

That's where he smiled. "Yeah, I remember that first day we became brother and sister… she noted to me after first starting to date Dum that she noticed how protective I am."

I smiled as well, memories were always amazing.

"So who's yours? I'm only asking since Nightmare is setting you on this mission for a reason." Boris said, and he was right to ask.

"Ace," I said, making his eyes go wide, "He looks like my brother."

"Kind of like Sakura."

"But a different person."

"All right, Abby, back to you." Nightmare said impatiently, and I wondered why it seemed I was the most important here. "You remember the reason I gave you for being brought here?"

"That you wanted me to help out two of the Role-holders." I said.

"Have you figured out who they are?" he asked, suddenly back in patient mode.

"Search my brain, of course I don't!" I said, distraught. What was it with me doing things myself when Nightmare already knew everything?

He looked very smug as he said, "You will figure it out in time, don't worry."

"Oho! Wait a minute, why won't you tell me who they are? Wouldn't it be easier to just know who the people are, help them, and be done with it?" I asked, earning several shakes of the head from Nightmare. I sat back in my seat, "You have no idea how annoying you are."

Nightmare chuckled. "I don't-" suddenly we heard a shout and he sighed.

"Pirate! Pirate!" I heard a girl shout desperately.

I looked at Nightmare questionably. Who was shouting that out? Were there pirates in Wonderland?

A girl suddenly ran into the room… my shock was that she looked so much like Alice that when I took I sip from my tea, I spit it back. It was amazing, she had the same eyes, the same face, though her personality was entirely different.

"Pirate, Ace killed Mon Sticky Friend the Seventeenth!" she shouted, holding up a stick that had snapped into two.

Nightmare sighed, Boris and I tried hard to hold in our laughs. She was so different from Alice who walked around gracefully and with certain purpose, this girl was acting insane and didn't even notice who else was in here. I certainly admired her idea of the nickname 'Pirate.'

"Not now, Alex, I'm in a meeting." Nightmare said with surprising patience. He probably had to practice this with her often. I almost choked on my tea this time, this was the other foreigner who found a Role-holder that was familiar looked like her teacher.

Alex looked at us, first noticing Boris and smiled at him knowingly, and then noticing me. "Oh, hi, you must be the new foreigner! I'm Alex!" her hand shot out towards me, and I shook it.

"I'm Abby." I said with the same enthusiasm, she was nice.

"You know what, ask Gray about destroying Ace, I'm in a meeting and Gray will have a better chance!" Nightmare's impatience was now showing through, and Alex just pouted at him.

"And you know I don't like Gray fighting Ace, they may be equal in strength, but the fight will never end unless someone shoots at them. Gray needs rest too, you know." Alex said, hands on her hips.

"Then get a gun as they fight and shoot it at Ace so you can be sure of his destruction for killing mom sticky friend!"

Mischief went into her eyes. "The name is Mon Sticky Friend! And I won't shoot at Ace and Gray as they fight, but I will take a gun." She held her hand out in front of Nightmare's face, "Hand a gun over."

"No!" Nightmare said, regretting telling her to grab a gun. "Gray would never forgive me if I did!"

"I can live with that." Alex said, smiling broadly.

Suddenly I saw Gray come up from the door where Alex's back faced and then seize her from behind. "I can't though," he said in her hair, brushing through it with his fingers and then kissing the side of her neck.

She squirmed in his grip at first, but then stopped when she heard his voice. I had just met Gray, but I didn't think he could be so seductive.

"So, what's the problem now that I hear you want a gun?" Gray asked.

"Ace killed Mon Sticky Friend the Seventeenth and I came in here to ask Pirate to destroy him… but he said to have you and Ace fight and then for me to grab a gun and shoot Ace as you fight." Gray then looked pretty stern. "But I didn't want to for fear of hitting you instead."

His gaze softened, he took the stick from her and placed it on the table. "May Mon Sticky Friend the Seventeenth rest in peace." Gray said formally.

Then Ace rushed in, looking very confused. "Oh hi, uh, Alex come on. Forgive me, please, I didn't know where I was stepping."

"You killed him!" she shouted out.

"Well you shouldn't have left him on the ground where someone could walk on him." Ace said, attracting attention from Gray who mouthed something. Ace looked at me and asked, "And you didn't stop the conversation?" The weird thing is he was still smiling.

"What could I add to that? I didn't know what was going on!" I defended. "Seriously, I was lost the moment she said that you killed Mon Sticky Friend. Don't take it out on me!"

"All right, all right, I forgive you." Ace said stopping me.

"Sorry," I said tentatively, "So where's Styrr?"

"I lost her in the tower somewhere…" Ace said, looking around suddenly. That's when I noticed that Nightmare was engaged in a fight with Gray, with poor Alex in the middle, though she seemed interested in it.

"How about we help you look?" I asked, standing up and pulling Boris with me, I somehow knew he would not like listening to the conversation. Besides, I wanted Nightmare to be done with me anyways, his conversations with me seemed to irritate something inside of me. I've no idea why…

We searched throughout the tower, and I was seriously wondering how anyone found their way through it. The way around was difficult to follow for all the territories I had gone into, though I was always sure it would be hard for a castle, I never thought it about an amusement park. There were always maps, but here there was none.

Ace walked ahead, and though I was sure he didn't know his way around the place, I still walked behind him with Boris. I was used to just walking with the person in the very back whenever I went anywhere, it had a relaxing feeling. For some reason, it seemed even more relaxing with Boris…

Oh! I looked down at my hand without moving my head, and found I was still holding his hand. Looking over at Boris though the corner of my eyes, I noticed his face had become a light shade of red. How had I not noticed this?

I felt my face burn, knowing I was probably blushing. I hoped something would get me out of this awkward situation, and Ace was oblivious to the whole thing, just strutting ahead to look for Styrr.

Then, I found my chance when in the room we were passing, I saw Styrr walking around in circles. "Ace, she's in here!" I said, breaking my hold from Boris' and running into the room where Styrr started staggering around, getting dizzy. I somehow caught her before she fell to the ground.

Ace ran in and took her in his arms, holding her as though she was asleep. She started giggling and caressed his face as he looked at her. From what was going on, it almost seemed like one of those movies where the hero has saved the love of his life and has just found out, with joy, that she's still alive.

I smiled, it looked cute. Looking at Boris, he wasn't actually looking at them, he looked sort of blank, a blush still in his cheeks. Then I started to wonder how seriously he took it that I had held his hand for that long.

I tried to keep my face clear of any color as I walked up to him and shook him awake. He looked back at me in a daze, a new emotion weaving through his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked concernedly, watching him recover as the color went back to his face and he smiled at me.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." I had to admire the fact that he made it look as though nothing wrong had happened, so I decided to forget about the incident. Yet the emotion that had suddenly appeared in his eyes when I shook him was still there in his yellow eyes. Then he whispered, "Does Ace know?"

I knew what he meant. "No," I said exasperatedly, "How do you say that kind of thing to someone?"

He shrugged.

I looked out the window and was surprised to see it was dark, I _had_ been getting kind of sleepy. "I can't believe it, how did it get dark out already?"

"Time changes randomly, it could be afternoon next." Boris said.

I looked over at Ace and Styrr, they looked as though they were examining us. That made me wonder what was going through their heads. Had Ace seen what happened between Boris and I? He couldn't have, he'd been walking ahead and hadn't turned his head back.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You haven't chosen a place to stay yet, have you?" Styrr asked.

"Um, no, I hadn't actually thought about it." I said, wondering where I would stay. I couldn't just go for Ace and Styrr's tent. So where?

"You should stay at the Amusement Park." Boris suggested. No, it seemed more like an order.

"Sure, but we should probably stay here tonight since it's so dark outside." I said, looking back outside.

"That's right," Nightmare said from the doorway. How long had he been there? "We have three extra guestrooms you can all sleep in."

"Thanks," all four of us said at once.

He led us to our rooms for the night. Ace and Styrr to one room, Boris to the next, and me to the last one.

"I will talk to you later." Nightmare said, closing the door behind me.

I sighed, knowing that he would enter my dreams. But, I didn't care, I would be getting the rest I needed even though I had to finish the conversation with Nightmare. So I flopped onto the bed and fell asleep instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

In the dream world, I saw Nightmare float over to where I had decided to sit around while he talked to me.

"You know, we could've finished our conversation earlier." Nightmare said, as he came up in front of me and then sat down next to me.

"Ah we were interrupted, and besides, you seemed like you would fight with Gray for a while, and I had to help Ace find Styrr." I said, stating what I thought to be perfect reasons for leaving Nightmare. "Besides, here it seems no one will interrupt you."

He sighed. "I guess that's true. The information really is just for you, and with everyone coming and going and Boris sitting there, it wasn't right."

The sound of Boris' name awakened something in me, though the thing was, I didn't know what. It stirred and seemed to jump around inside of me while on the outside I was perfectly calm.

Nightmare smiled. "Every foreigner that falls for someone is likely to stay."

I gasped. "Why the bleep do you look into my mind?"

He chuckled. "Because I can, I have morals, but in this case I must. You have a duty to do right now."

I would've been fine with the explanation had he not stopped laughing.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because," he said, "Unlike some other foreigners who come here, when you come close to a bad word you don't say it, you say bleep or some sort of food! Someone like Alice or Skylar never goes near bad words, but you say things as replacements for them."

I sighed. "Yeah, though how do you know about the saying of random foods?"

"I'm a dream demon, I was in your mind before you came here." Nightmare said, as though it was incredibly obvious. I let it slide. "The thing is, is that almost every foreigner has the ability to stay in Wonderland if they fall in love. Even if their duty has been long done."

"So that's why some of the girls are still here… they fell in love." I said wondrously, though I wasn't sure that I was possibly staying. "But wait… what does that have to do with me?"

"I can see it," Nightmare said, sounding like one of the books I'd read for school where there was a foreshadow. "You are falling in love with Boris."

I felt my face go red, "Wha-"

"Save it," Nightmare said, "You are falling in love with him, and trust me, I know. The same thing happened with someone I love, but you at least have a chance to be with Boris. Take the chance."

I was silent for a couple moments. "Who?"

"Who… what?" he asked.

"Who are you in love with?... Why can't you be with her?" I asked, suddenly feeling a sort of sorrow press down on me for Nightmare.

Nightmare sighed. "Her name's Ivy. She was the second foreigner to come here, and it was only because she had a duty to find Alice in a time where she'd disappeared. We've only been able to visit each other in dream world, and the more she lives life there, the more she wants to come back to Wonderland."

My mind reeled. She had to go back home, but she never let go of her love for Nightmare. Nightmare needed my help… we were quiet for a while, and Nightmare looked around the world in interest. My thoughts had conjured up the wilderness where I felt the safest, having been so used to hiking when I was littler.

"There's one I know of…" I said, absent-mindedly breaking the silence, earning a confused glance from Nightmare.

"One what?" he asked.

"Wait…" I said, shocked that he didn't know what I meant, "Do you know which Role-holders I need to help?"

"No, it's for you to figure out, I have no say in who it is. That's why I can't read your mind right now I guess, it's screaming the answer through your mind. Though you can probably say which one it is to me." Nightmare said.

I had to think quickly, it probably wouldn't be best if Nightmare knew I had to help him get Ivy back. It must be hard for both of them. Then I had the brilliant idea. "Ace needs help. He's always lost and it seems that something is bothering him, especially when around Alice."

Nightmare nodded. "That is certain… now you need to find who your other Role-holder is."

We were in silence a while more. "What's Ivy's full name?" I asked.

"Ivy Cainz."

That enflamed another fire in me. I knew her! She was all my classes in school, I hardly knew her but I knew she was around. She had long black hair and was a book nerd as I was, we were in the same book club.

I had noticed that she had been looking more and more depressed as the school year progressed. At around the beginning of the year, she had gotten broken limbs from being inside a tree as a storm hit. She had been doing pretty well since then, always excited to get back home. Now I knew why.

"You know her?" Nightmare asked in surprise, the feeling of him poking through my brain filled again.

"As you can probably see in my mind. Yes. I do." I said, wondering how it was possible that I actually knew someone. And she was the second foreigner here. She saved Alice from something. What had happened…?

"Sorry, but what happened when Ivy came to save Alice is classified. They are the only two foreigners who know about it." Nightmare said.

"And the story can't be told to other foreigners?" I asked.

Nightmare shook his head. Then he had an idea, "Show me your vial."

I took my vial out of my pocket and looked at it as well as I handed it over to him. It was almost a quarter of the way through already. I hadn't checked it in a while, and I was frankly surprised I didn't, since I was moving to get out of Wonderland.

"I'm guessing you've pretty much met all of the Role-holders then?" Nightmare asked, holding the vial out before him.

"I guess. There's only the Hatter Mansion, Clover Tower, Heart Castle, and Amusement Park, right?"

He hesitated.

"Is there another set of land that I haven't heard about?" I asked, wondering how much I would have to go through in order to find my way home.

"Yes," Nightmare sighed, "That would be the circus. But I warn you, it's also neutral, but yet it's the most dangerous. The only Role-holder there would be the Joker, and he is the most feared. Ask anyone."

I gulped. "Do I have to meet him in order to fill the bottle?"

"You do." Nightmare said with reluctance. "You don't have to meet him more than once, though, thankfully. That's reserved for the other Role-holders."

I let out a breath of exhilaration. "If he's the other Role-holder I have to help, then I don't want to know what could happen in the process… What is he known for being like, or doing to foreigners?"

"Well, he actually works to change the season when foreigners play a card game with him. And he has his own counterpart." Nightmare said, causing my widen my eyes. "You don't need to know."

"Right…" I said, wondering what he could mean by counterpart. That he had a double personality, one kind one and one evil one, and that they were in two separate beings? It sounded like it, the way Nightmare was talking about them.

The dream world started to fade away before my eyes, and even Nightmare looked a little surprised.

"Well, I guess our conversation is done anyways. But who is waking you up right now, I'm sure the next time period hasn't come up." Nightmare said, standing up and looking around in confusion.

"Um, all right… I guess I'll see you in the morning." I said, finally disappearing from the world entirely. I woke up to someone vigorously trying to shake me awake from my slumber. When I opened my eyes, it was Ace.


	6. Chapter 6

Six

"Ace? What the-" I started to say, before Ace covered my mouth with his hand. He held me down on the bed, and it surprised me with the amount of strength he had in him. Well, he was a knight, he needed as much strength as possible.

"Shush," he said, looking around with an air of confusion, "I need to talk to you… in private."

"Well, where do you think we are? I'm all alone in my room here except for you." I said when he removed his hand from my mouth.

"Where no one can overhear." Ace said. "Nightmare is likely to come into your room to check on you, and I need somewhere where no one can find us. I know the place, but I need your cooperation."

"Um, okay…" I said, wondering when Ace would get off of me, "I could leave a note on my pillow so Nightmare and Boris know where I've gone, and that I'll be back soon. Does that work?"

"Yes, and say it's with me, because then Styrr won't worry so much. Don't worry I left a note on my pillow so she knows I've gone to talk to you about something." Ace said, lifting himself off of me.

"Does she know what you need to talk to me about? Can I know before we go?" I asked, as I took a piece of paper and pencil out of the side table next to the bed. How did I know that's where they were? Oh well, I wrote my note as Ace spoke.

"She knows, I talked to her about it yesterday since she insisted on the fact that I was worrying about something." Ace was pacing around the room restlessly as I wrote. "And I'll tell you when we get to the spot. Only I know of it, Styrr doesn't, so you can't tell her about it since she'll get protective and think I'm going behind her back."

"Okay… okay." I said, hoping Ace would calm down soon. I didn't care if Nightmare said Joker was feared most of all in Wonderland, because Ace was just freaking me out now.

When I finished, I showed the letter to Ace to see if he approved of the way I gave the information.

To Nightmare and Boris,

I've gone with Ace just for a little while. Don't worry, we will be back in no time at all, we just had something we needed to discuss. If you are in any sort of terrible worry as I'm away, you may reprimand me as much as you want when we get back.

Sincerely,

Abby

"It's fine," Ace said, placing it on my pillow, "Now let's go." I had not seen how deep his urgency was until he grabbed my arm and bolted out of the bedroom door with me barely catching up behind him. I tripped over my own feet a couple times.

Ace led me out of the tower and into the woods. I was surprised that he took me out of the tower, but I couldn't complain since he wanted all of my cooperation and was much stronger than me.

Suddenly, Ace took something out of his bag and put it over my head, then suddenly picking me up over his shoulder and carrying me the rest of the way. I had no idea what was going on and was afraid of it. Why talk now? Why can't I know where we're going? Why talk in that certain place? I didn't dare ask.

Finally, through the seemingly hard road, Ace finally slowed down to an even pace. I heard his breathing also slow down after running, it made me guess that we most certainly got lost.

After about five minutes of walking, Ace came to a complete stop and carefully took me off of his shoulder. The bag over my head was still left on as he grabbed my hands and led me slowly toward the destination.

"We're almost there," Ace reassured me softly, "Just hang in tight."

"W-where are we going?" I managed to ask aloud.

"I wanted a special place for us to talk, and this place is it. I may get lost in getting us back, but there's no worries, I'll place all the blame on myself." Ace said genuinely.

Another couple minutes passed and the bag was taken off of my head. I could hardly conceal my awe in the sight before me. It was a large, beautiful garden with a couple flower arches and benches.

Ace sat the both us on one of the benches and turned to face me, seriousness replaced his usual happy expression. "Are you all right?" he asked with concern.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you. That trip wasn't so bad-"

Ace cut me off, "I meant, since you've come here. Have you been all right? Has there been any problems?"

I was taken aback, but I answered him anyways. "Um… I suppose so. It's not like anything completely terrible has happened."

"I'm just wondering because, sometimes I notice you look at me the way Alice's own expression looked like, in her first week in Wonderland, when we mentioned Blood's name." Ace looked completely serious when he said this. "You aren't falling in love with me, are you?"

"What? Oh no, no, no, no, that's not at all what I'm thinking! Even if I thought of you in that way, I couldn't possibly take you away from Styrr!" I said, now realizing his intentions. I suppose now would be a good time to tell him what I keep seeing when I look at him. "It's just that… you look like my brother from the other world. It's a striking similarity."

Ace stared at me in shock, and then a happy smile crept back into his face. "All right, let's forget about this misunderstanding then and be siblings."

I smiled, "I'd really like that."

"Which is another reason why I think you should stay in Wonderland, even long after you finish your role." Ace said, serious again. I wasn't sure if I could get used to that from Ace.

I was sure the surprise could be seen clearly on my face, even in the dark. "What's the other reason, or reasons?"

"The other reason is your closeness to Boris. I could see the chemistry between you two today, even when you two were walking behind me." Ace said with a small chuckle.

I gave a small slap to his knee. "So you _did_ see that little… uh, incident?"

He nodded, his smile getting bigger, if that was possible at this point. "Abby and Boris sitting in a tree, K-"

My hand went straight to his mouth, silencing him. "I do not need to hear that song." I said with a little laugh.

"And you aren't denying it, so it must be true." Ace said pointedly.

"I just met him today, and you're already deciding that we'll be together." I said.

"It's just this spark that all the Role-holders see, even Boris sees it. And I can see that Boris is now sure that he's in love with you, which is why I'm wondering what his reaction will be when you get back." Ace said, pondering on the thought for a moment.

"He knows about the fact that you're like a brother to me, and since he has this kind of bond with Sakura, he's sure to realize it would come up for us." I told Ace.

"See," Ace pointed at me accusingly, "He already knows something before your dear brother does."

I jumped him, enjoying the feeling of having my wonderful brother back again. Ace made it seem even better, too, the way we rolled over each other in the grass and ended up getting grass stains on our clothes.

The next time period was midday, and Ace and I were wondering through the forest, lost. I thought of how much better it seemed now that we had a sort of intimate bond with each other now.

What was annoying was that Ace was able to clean the grass stains off of his uniform with no problem whatsoever. My jeans and t-shirt on the other hand, were a totally different matter.

"You need to wear dresses here anyways, as is the custom." Ace's argument was.

"But now that these clothes are ruined, what am I going to do with them?" I asked.

"We are going to go to the store, buy you a dress for you to wear regularly, and burn those clothes. Trust me, it's not going to go well walking around Wonderland wearing those." Ace said, gesturing to what I had been wearing for the past couple days. "The headband should go, too, but you look good in it. So, we should get a dress with a matching headband."

I sighed, "Okay, so I guess I'll kinda be like Alice now, except instead of a bow it's a headband."

"Exactly!" Ace beamed.

I noticed something was wrong when I started seeing multiple signs saying different things like "go that way" or "go the opposite of which this arrow is pointing." Not that it made sense being as there were multiple signs on almost every single tree saying different things and pointing in different directions.

"Ace, are you sure this is the way to the store you're talking about?" I asked, having a bad feeling form in the pit of my stomach.

"Positive."

"Which territory is it in?"

"Heart Castle, what else?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure this isn't Heart territory."

Ace stopped, looking around. "Huh, I guess you're right, oh well, maybe Joker will help us find the way to Heart Castle."

The bad feeling sunk even deeper, I couldn't even squeak Joker's name out, Nightmare made me frightened of him.

"Have you met him yet?" Ace asked when he turned around to see my face, it must have been pale. He took my hand in his and led me further into the forest, his hand comforting my own by moving his thumb around in soft circles on my hand.

"No, but Nightmare told me enough about him last night," I said, then sighed loudly, "Well, I should meet him anyways, I must in order to fill the bottle."

"**Who goes there**?" a little voice said from behind me. Ace and I turned around slowly to see a man who also wore an eye patch over his right eye as Nightmare did, but he had a jester hat, and jester looking clothes. His maroon hair matching his lone ruby eye, and long side bangs that cascaded down the side of his face.

"Hello there." Joker smiled down at me, but it wasn't in the voice that I had heard from before. "I am Joker," then he pointed to a little white mask at his belt, "And this is Joker."

"**How ya doin' b******?" the Joker Mask said.

"You can also refer to me as White and him as Black." White said, making it a little easier to talk to them both without them answering at the same time. They both had the same voice, but Black's was much smaller seeing as he was a little mask. That's when I noticed White's whip. "Now what's your name young lady?"

"Abby," I said shakily, Ace standing next to me and looking at them without a problem, "Nice to meet you."

"**Oh, would you look at that White? A w**** with manners!**" Black said, he didn't sound at all pleasant.

"I am also a watermelon that could easily rip you apart if you trifle me too far with the way you swear at me." I told Black dangerously, making Ace stifle his laughter and surprise from behind his hand.

"Oh, Black, I think you ought not to treat her in such a way."

"**I can sense a trouble-maker when I meet them.**" Black sneered.

"What have I done wrong except actually come and meet you in person?" I asked, I was liking Black less and less.

"**Watch yourself, missy! I may just catch you off guard… Ah-ha-ha-ha, and I am a prison guard!**"

"I certainly don't plan on visiting your prison any time soon, though." I said to him. To White I asked, "Do you know where Heart Castle is, it seems we're lost."

"**Get a map then, w-**"

"I have a map, it's just been left at Clover Tower where I was taken from in a hurry." I said, looking at Ace, now rolling around in the grass, laughing extremely hard. "What is so bleepin' funny?"

"Oh," Ace said, standing up, wiping a tear from his eye and still laughing, "It's just that I have never seen any foreigner talk to the Joker like that. Most foreigners show some sort of fear to him or just try to act in their own normal way."

"Humph, and it's as if we would possibly hurt them." White said with a sniffle. That made me a little suspicious.

"Hem-hem," Ace said, making all of us stare at him, "Directions, anybody?"

Joker gave us a map that I could use to help Ace and I find the store, in which he wouldn't even try to work out. Eventually, we were able to find our way to the marketplaces where Ace led me straight into a clothing store.

There, he picked up dresses, looked at me, and put them back down as if to show he knew I wouldn't look good in it. I let him pick, wondering if that's what he did for Styrr normally.

I could tell; Ace liked being the person in charge of certain things going on.

I had sat down for a while when he came back with three dresses that I stared at, open-mouthed.

One was a plain red dress with a black bow tied around the waste and a black headband with a bow on it. The sleeve were short and the neckline was sort of close to my neck, but not so much that I would choke. It seemed this was to be for everyday use, as the top was like one of the t-shirts I wore back home.

The second was formal looking; it was a black and white dress, white long-sleeved top and black skirt. It had flowers laced on to the skirt with a couple buttons at the back so that I could get it on (the one before was just a slip-on.) The headband with this one had the black and white swirled together, and the same pattern on the flower attached to it.

The third, was also formal looking. But as the other two reached the knee and had long, matching socks to go with them, this one went down to my ankles and was maroon with splashes of violet across it. The headband was the same, with no flower or bow added to it. My guess for this one was to balls.

I hadn't even paid attention to the shoes, all I'd noticed watch that there were red sneaker-like shoes, black flats with white flowers, and low-heeled maroon and violet dancing shoes.

I tried them all on, and they fit perfectly. Ace gave very approving glances as well.

"Ace, I don't know how to thank you. They're beautiful!" I said, as we walked out of the store. I was now wearing the red dress, and it felt so comfy that I wondered how I'd survived with wearing jeans and t-shirts all my life.

"Wear them for their occasions. Wear the one you're wearing now for everyday life, wear the black and white one for special occasions, and wear the maroon dress for every upcoming ball to come." Ace said with a smile. Then he remembered something. "Oh, and no one should see the maroon dress, secretly go to the next ball with it, you'll look gorgeous."

I leaned against him as I lead us back to the Clover Tower where I was to meet with some very worried Role-holders.

Apparently, before we stopped there though, we went to the Amusement Park to drop my stuff off. The dresses were in black plastic bags, and when we got there, Ace told Mary about the little secret of one of the dresses and that no one was to peak.

Mary showed me to my new room, having heard from Boris that I'd agreed to live there for my stay in Wonderland. He seemed happy himself, beaming at me with such joy that he incessantly said that I shouldn't leave so soon. I was at least able to convince him that I had to in order to get Boris.

That's where the bond between Boris and I formulated further and further.


	7. Chapter 7

Seven

I walked in through the door and was brought into a great embrace, I hugged back feeling the joy emanating off of the person. Once he spoke, I knew who it was.

"Don't do that again." Boris scolded softly into my hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that would happen. It just came to us to go somewhere to talk, and Ace bought me outfits." I tried to lighten his mood. It worked somewhat.

Boris let go of me to look at my dress, a small red tinge at his cheeks. "It's… beautiful… you're beautiful in it!"

"And my dear brother helped me pick it out," I said, making Boris ease down a little more, "The other one is at the Amusement Park in my new room."

"So you are staying at the Amusement Park?" Boris asked enthusiastically.

I nodded with just as much excitement. I turned to see if Ace would agree, but he was on the other side of the room with Styrr, telling her about everything that had happened.

After a while, Styrr beamed at me from across the room, and I smiled back. Now, in a way, we were sister-in-laws. Styrr then seemed to be trying to signal something to me, and I didn't realize what it was she was waving her arms about for.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands hold me under the armpits and raise me up in the air. Looking down, I saw a happy Boris, who then started spinning me around with joy. I didn't know he was so strong, not as much as Ace because I could feel him shaking a little, but he didn't collapse.

I laughed along, wondering what could come over him with such joy that I was staying at the Amusement Park for the time being.

When Boris finally put me down, I was pulled into what felt like a bone-breaking hug, and it was somehow comforting. This was someone who was actually excited that I would be staying in the place where he did.

My mind then went blank when, from behind Ace and Styrr, I saw Ivy. It was confusing because one, she wasn't supposed to be here, and two, she looked as though she was fading in and out of the world. I stared at her and she stared back, equally surprised that I had come into this world.

Her long hair was placed in a large ponytail, and she wore short jean shorts and a blue and white striped tank top. She looked a little sad and held a book close to her as she looked around.

Boris felt my rigidness, and he turned to my white face. "Abby is everything all right?" his concern wasn't mistaken, when he looked in the direction I was and gasped.

"What, you guys didn't realize we watched the entire ordeal?" Ace asked jokingly, laughing.

"Ace, Styrr," I said, my voice a little hollow, "Look behind you."

They did, and I was sure they paled, too, because they suddenly started backing away as fast as possible. Ivy stared at me intently, walking towards me and making everyone else back away. I stood where I was.

"Ivy, are you in between both worlds?" I asked.

"I guess so," she said, the expression still on her face, "Now I know where you are really. But the question is did you die?"

"I died?" I asked in shock. "Wait… how?"

"Well, you aren't dead yet, you're in a coma at the hospital. A person ran over you with their car on accident, seeing as they hadn't seen you because you were in the middle of the road." Ivy said. "Everyone at school… they are all worried for you. You might want to come back soon."

"What about you?" I asked, deciding to help Nightmare right now. "Don't you want to come back to Wonderland? Nightmare seems sorta… lost without you."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"And, you know, last time I saw you in school, you did look a little depressed. Do you think it's because you can't be with Nightmare in our world?" When she nodded, I went on. "Why don't you come back? Just grab my hand." I held my hand out, unsure if that would actually help her come.

She really wanted to, I could tell her that. When she'd made up her mind to grab it, we were suddenly somewhere with gray bars and toy prisoners in cells.

"What-" I couldn't finish my question, because suddenly a hand covered my mouth with a sort of cloth with a smell that brought me to the floor. Darkness surrounded me as the last thing I saw was Ivy's terrified face and the face of the Joker, but wearing a prison warden outfit. "Black…" I said.

I woke up chained to a wall in the prison, my hands, feet, and neck covered with shackles that I fought against for a couple minutes.

"Argh, why won't my imagination work?" I heard Ivy say. Turning to where the sound was, I saw Ivy looking stuck in a corner. She looked up to see me and said, "I'm covered in some sort of invisible chain, I can't get out."

"And it's imaginary because you aren't actually here." Joker said, coming in, this time it was White.

He still had his creepy smile on and I stared back at him, wondering what I did wrong to put me in this position.

Turning to me, he said, "You are here because you were too close to bringing Ivy back into Wonderland. You are being punished."

"Yeah, being punished for a reason I don't know about." I spat back at him. "Sure, Ivy may have finished her job, but she's not happy in our world. She must come back to Wonderland with Nightmare."

He looked at me, "Why do you think you need to do this?"

"Because I think Nightmare is one of the two Role-holders I was brought here to help. I need to bring Ivy back into Wonderland for him." I said confidently.

He crossed his arms. "I hate to admit that you are right." White wasn't the one who spoke though, for coming into the room was Black, in flesh and blood. Two strange personalities. Neither of them were what I wanted to listen to at the moment.

Ivy looked at each of us in turn, confused by the predicament as White and Black nodded to each other in an unspoken agreement.

Black went to Ivy. "Alright, you are being let out," to me he said, "You, on the other hand, are not."

Suddenly, Ivy's form became that of a person and then she disappeared from the room screaming "No!"

"Where did you take her?" I asked.

"She's at Clover Tower where everyone is checking the scene where you disappeared. Oh, Nightmare will be happy." White said.

"As for you w****, you are staying here for our amusement." Black said as White leaned against one of the walls with a happy sigh.

"And what exactly is your amusement…?" my voice trailed off as Black and White took out their whips and advanced towards me.

I stood up quickly and backed away, hitting into the wall. This wasn't what I wanted to get myself into. "Wait, you can't seriously be thinking of just hurting me because I broke a rule I didn't know was there?"

"Yes," White said, "We are, because you were able to realize it in here."

"Yeah, because you can always tell you've done something wrong when you are placed in a cage." I retorted, watching the whips with wary eyes, speaking faster than I meant to.

"Well, b****, this is what's going to happen from now until Wonderland decides to spit you out because you are not fulfilling your role to the requirements."

"And you are at fault." I said.

"Idiot, you are the reason you're in here." Black said. "Besides, you did say you weren't planning on visiting me anytime soon. Look at where you are now." His face was now up close to mine, and it crept me out to see his little ruby eye taking in my face.

My breathing quickened in the fear both Jokers were giving me. Then the whip slashed against my thigh, and I cried out with shock and pain. They weren't going to be nice about this.

White grabbed me and pulled me away from the wall, putting pressure on the parts that were shackled. I choked for a bit until he pushed me back into the wall, knocking the breath out of me. Then the two mercilessly hit me with their whips, I curled in a little ball so that I could hide myself from them.

Both Jokers then pulled me up from the ground out of my safe-ball, and started hitting me in worse places. My neck was one, my stomach another, and my blood flowed freely out of my new wounds. When they pushed me back to the ground I let out another cry and broke into shivers.

My dress sewed itself back together, but that was something my wounds couldn't do, and I just lay motionless on the floor. They were merciless men and I knew that if they hit me until the end of time, then I wouldn't be living any longer than I should.

"So, b****, did you learn your lesson?" Black asked menacingly, whipping the wound on my neck again so that a world of intense pain flowed through me.

"There's no lesson for her to learn," a familiar voice said from the door, making the Jokers look at the newcomer, "Step away from her."

"Oh, well isn't it the kitty cat that fell in love with this sweet outsider?" Black asked with a sneer, pulling me roughly to my feet and holding the whip to my neck again with what felt like a threat to choke me.

The newcomer before me was Boris, anger flashing through his eyes, and a gun held out in front of him He put his arm down when Joker went behind me.

"I think I'll keep her for a while longer," Black said, turning me to face him, and I lay around in his arms helplessly until his face loomed over mine. I moved to get away, but White's whip hit my leg, Black let go of me, and I fell to the ground with a thud.

I heard two shots, two thuds, and saw a pair of feet hurry over to me. "Abby… Abby!" Boris said, shaking me lightly.

"Is Ivy all right?" I asked, feeling a little out of it.

"Yeah, Nightmare's treating to her now. Why?" Boris asked nervously.

"One half is complete." I mumbled, collapsing into Boris' arms.


	8. Chapter 8

Eight

I woke up in a hospital room, feeling woozy and sick. I turned my head to look at Boris sitting at my bedside, holding my left hand in his hands. His ears were folded back as his forehead lay against the bed. I smiled weakly, his hands held mine tightly, as if to say "I'm not letting you go."

I tightened my grip on his hands, making him look up at me. His yellow eyes at first filled with sorrow, and then filling up with joy.

"Boris?" I asked.

"Yes? Yes, Abby?" he asked.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"For about five time periods, the nurses tended to your wounds, and they're all healed except for the one on your neck. That one's harder to get to, because it was hit multiple times." Boris touched that part of my neck and I flinched.

"I guess it's better than before, though. The pain is mostly gone." I said, thinking back on the incident. "The Joker's…. they're dead." I said, wondering how that was possible.

"Not exactly," Boris said, "The Jokers can die more than once, and, trust me, they don't stay dead."

"Oh, that's not nice information." I said, realizing my position in bed where I was helpless to get out, though not as much as in the shackles. "When can I come out of the hospital room?"

"After the next time period, that's when the doctor's say you'll feel much better." Boris said with a bright smile.

"Boris…" I said, watching his ears perk up, "Thank you for saving me from the Jokers, I don't know how I'd survive."

He squeezed my hand reassuringly, "It was my pleasure. When Ivy told us what happened, even Ace offered to go after them, but Styrr wouldn't allow him, so I went."

Nightmare and Ivy burst in the door. Actually it was more like Nightmare bursting in while holding Ivy's hand. Ivy caught her breath while Nightmare stared at Boris and I with a wave of what I could feel was wonderment.

"Why did you go to such extremes to help me get Ivy back?" he asked me sternly, and tension filled the air. "Don't mistaken me, I'm very happy for what you've done, but not the way you went to help."

"I didn't know I would be placed in a cell for trying to bring her back, it's just that when she suddenly appeared here she was half here and half at home. I held out my hand to hers and we suddenly appeared in the prison." I said.

"But… you risked your own life in order to tell Joker to let her out." Nightmare said, almost disapprovingly. "Why go to that extreme?"

"Between my life and hers, she has a better chance at being able to stay here. And besides, that was part of my role here." I said, making Nightmare's expression become confused.

"Seriously?" he asked in surprise. "I'm one of the Role-holders you're supposed to help?"

I nodded. "I was sure of it when you first told me about Ivy."

Ivy rubbed Nightmare's arms, and he relaxed a little, releasing all of his energy. Ivy smiled at me thankfully, and I nodded to her. He became pale, and muttered, "I should've realized I just walked into a hospital."

"You're sick all the time," Gray said angrily, walking in behind Nightmare, "Come on, a doctor is waiting."

"No!" Nightmare shouted out as Gray pushed him out, and Ivy took him the rest of the way, for Gray closed the door and came up to us.

"How can we repay you for bringing Ivy back?" Gray asked, his golden eyes glittering with happiness. At least I knew the people at Clover Tower were happy with my work I did so far here.

"How about just one question?… Do you know who was familiar to Alex when she first came into this world? Did she tell you?"

"Actually, she told me that the Joker looked like a teacher she had. She wanted to come into here later to talk to you about that." Gray said.

Knowing that, my heart sank at the thought of wondering how Alex had met the Joker, how he treated her. More importantly was my curiosity on how Joker had treated other foreigners that came here.

Alex then came bouncing on in with excitement, "Nightmare's having his doctor's appointment!" She hugged Gray with joy and then turned to me. "So how are you doing? What'd they do to you?"

"I'm okay now; they basically whipped me half to death though." I said.

"The evil bastards?" she asked.

"Sure, I guess you could call the Jokers that." I said with a smile.

"Actually, ahem, she's talking about clowns."

Alex nodded vigorously.

"The clowns didn't do anything to me. I didn't even go to the circus. It was Black Joker and White Joker that were doing it in the prison when I was defenseless." I said, realizing that Alex was probably more afraid of clowns than of the Jokers.

"Hey, Kitty, aren't you afraid of the evil bastards?" Alex asked as if trying to prove that the clowns were the ones who did it to me.

"No, I think I'm more frightened about the Jokers than I am about the clowns. The clowns are harmless." Boris said, and I noticed he still held my hand as though wanting to claim me.

Alex noticed this and asked me, "Have you fallen in love already?"

Before I could answer, Gray said, "Okay, Alex, that's for them to decide when it's time, they don't need you prying in their business."

I was thankful when he moved to get her out of the room, I wasn't sure how to answer that, but I was sure I blushed. Boris, I noticed, was blushing as well, and moved to look at me expectantly.

Thankfully again, a nurse bustled into the room and shooed Boris out. "Get out, it's time let her rest!"

As she pushed him out, he said, "I'll come get you when it's time to get out of the hospital!"

The door closed. As the nurse bustled around, I rummaged around in my pocket and found the vial that would take me home. It was half of the way through, so that meant that finishing a part of the job brought me a fourth of the way closer to home.

Suddenly I heard the nurse start cackling, almost witch-like. It was bone-chilling. She came back in with a large needle. I quickly put the vial into my pocket, she hadn't seen it.

"Off to sleep you go," she sung, advancing toward me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"NotClaire," she said, that's when I noticed she looked about my age and had an evil glint in her eyes. "Well, Abby, I think I shall take you away from this world. Say nighty night…"

The needle was thrust into my arm, I let out a scream and NotClaire disappeared, leaving behind the needle still putting strange liquid into my arm. Everything got blurry, and I saw a flash of pink come before me.

"Abby! No!" it was Boris.

"Boris… I love you…" and I was enclosed in darkness again.


	9. Chapter 9

Nine

I woke up in a flurry of anger. Who was this NotClaire and why did she send me home before I could finish my role?

I saw my parents by my bedside, and they were filled with joy that I was awake, the doctors just surprised. I felt pain on my arms and legs, but I ignored it as I popped out of bed and ran out of the room.

"Abby!" they asked in surprise.

I didn't know what I was doing, it must've been something in what NotClaire gave me, because I would've hugged my parents if I could help it. But I was in an anger that couldn't be quenched unless I returned to Wonderland.

What if it was just a dream? What if it wasn't real and only a part of my imagination? A lot happened, though, it wouldn't feel like that in a dream. I wasn't sure, all I knew was that I somehow dodged the security of the hospital easily though my legs and arms complained.

I ran out of the hospital and to the spot by the park where I remember Peter took me down the hole. It wasn't there. I hid up in a tree and watched the spot, not knowing how much time passed as I saw police officers running back and forth. Somehow they didn't think to search the tree.

About a week passed, I was still there, drinking any rainwater that fell and eating ripe apples I found in the tree I sat in. Then I remembered the vial, I searched my pocket and surprisingly found it in my hospital gown.

There was a note inscribed on it that I was sure wasn't there before. I read it thoroughly, drinking in every word:

In order to return to Wonderland to finish your role, stay where you are now unless you know you'll be back before dark. Some Role-holders will come to fetch you and some other foreigners that had to leave Wonderland after the defeat of NotClaire.

It will be tonight. Don't be late.

I read it over and over again, feeling like I was floating. I didn't have to worry about NotClaire, she was already defeated. But who was brought into Wonderland to stop her?

It was then that the hole opened, though nighttime hadn't fallen yet. My hospital gown was replaced with my red dress from Wonderland and some foreigners came out, wearing clothes from this world, since I could now tell the difference.

In the lead was a girl I hadn't met before, and I was sure I met every single foreigner there. Perhaps she was the one who defeated NotClaire.

Then, in the clothes they all now wore, they were all recognizable as girls from my school that had gone missing over the past year. I saw Styrr, Alex, Morrigan, Skylar… and Elizabeth.

All of them looked lonely. They'd all left someone they loved, but who did Elizabeth fall in love with?

"I miss Ace," Styrr complained.

"I miss Elliot," Morrigan agreed.

"I miss Gray," Alex sighed.

"I miss Julius," Skylar said sorrowfully.

Elizabeth said a name that surprised me. "I miss Joker."

I admit, sadly, that I fell out of the tree and lay on my back as I heard gasps from all of the girls. "I'm okay!" I said, raising my hand.

"You didn't see that did you?" Elizabeth asked me nervously as they all walked over to me.

"I did, and don't worry… I was in Wonderland, too." I said, making Elizabeth gasp.

"You were in Wonderland? Why didn't I see you?" she asked in shock.

"I was there, I think, before you went in. I was in the hospital there, and NotClaire was a fake nurse and gave me medicine that took me here." I said, deciding not to tell them about my vial still being with me or what would come up tonight.

"Oh," Elizabeth said.

"What happened? Why did you all come back here?" I asked.

"Nightmare said that Wonderland couldn't take the many foreigners that were there. He had to have us go because we still had our vials intact and we had finished our roles." Skylar said.

"But… to take you away when you fell in love with the Role-holders? How can Nightmare decide that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Styrr said, who then had an outtake, "Did you even finish your role?"

I shook my head. "I didn't, and I was defenseless against NotClaire thanks to White and Black."

Elizabeth looked at me with confusion.

"There are two Jokers… one is the Jester who has good manners, also known as White, and the other is the Warden with a foul mouth, also known as Black, which one did you fall in love with?" I asked.

"White…" she said. A confused expression was still on her face. "What did they do to you? Just out of curiosity."

"Whipped me half to death because I broke rules." I said monotonously.

She sighed, and the other girls went into explanations on the truth about Joker. "I love him even more then… because that's part of him. The Role-holders can't help what they do."

I smiled, "That's a good way to think of it, though one thing for sure… I'm not going near those two again. Even if my life depended on it."

They all laughed and sat around talking while dark came down. I made sure to keep them there so that the Role-holders could take them back to Wonderland. That message must've meant for me to bring them.

"Abby!" I heard someone, no, three someone's, shout.

Turning I was caught in a large hug by Hati, Alicia, and Lucy, my best friends I had had since I was eight. This was unexpected, because suddenly, the place we were sitting on opened up and we all dropped down into it. The other girls came as well, laughing with happiness along with me as Hati, Alicia, and Lucy screamed with terror.

When we landed, I had a better look at the three confused and terrified girls that now landed in Wonderland.

I was in a whirl of confusion; too much was going on for my taste. When I turned away from them, Boris was right there and I wrapped my arms around his neck in a long hug. I was so happy to see him.

He hugged back, and muttered into my ear, "I love you, too. Now, I'm not ever letting you go. You're mine."

I felt my heart soar, "I am yours, and I won't be anyone else's."

My poor friends watched this with confusion, they had no idea who he was, and how I knew him or what was going on.


	10. Chapter 10

Ten

A couple weeks passed since then, the three new foreigners had taken the potion and were now having fun with Boris and I at the Amusement Park. We had gone on a bunch of rides and had lunch.

During the weeks, my bottle had filled to the tippy top, and I wondered which other Role-holder I had helped. But, of course, I didn't drink from the vial so I could go home. In fact, Boris helped me to destroy it, by holding my hand in his and telling me when to let go of it. I could never return home after knowing Boris loved me.

Alicia, Lucy, and Hati were petrified by what I'd done. They were getting everything collected to go home and had wanted me to return with them.

The thing I found funny was that Peter found a new foreigner to fall in love with. It was Lucy. She thought him to be a good friend, but knew him well enough to know he went too far when he jumped her at the oddest times.

Another thing was that when Boris chased Pierce, he would always grab onto Alicia when he spotted her. Alicia would protect him and I would have to get Boris to walk away what he calls "the scene of the crime."

As for Hati, I found her wandering into the forest and then coming back looking extremely happy. Though I wasn't sure which Role-holder she was going for. Was there one I hadn't met?

Sometimes, while we hung out, I wondered if the girls were falling in love with some of the Role-holders here. So, I made a day where it was just me and the girls and promised Boris that there would be a day with only him and me.

"So…" I said, feeling extremely happy now that my friends were here, "Who are you falling in love with?"

They all blushed and looked into their laps as if to say "none of your business." I smiled and prodded them a little further. Finally they confessed.

"Okay, okay, we get it!" Hati said. "All right then… I've been seeing Black. There, I said it, why don't you just unfriend me now?"

"I'm not going to do that," I said, "You've been my friend for a long time, I'm not going to stop the friendship because you're dating someone I don't like. I'm just going to stay away from him as much as possible." Hati laughed.

When I reached Alicia, she said, "Pierce, I'm in love with Pierce. Once you get to know him, he's really sweet."

"I thought so too when I met him, trust me, he needs someone who can calm him down. I don't know if you've noticed, but the poor boy has bags under his eyes." I said, making Alicia laugh softly and nod her agreement.

At Lucy, she blushed even more brightly than the other two. "Peter..." she muttered softly. I listened intently, wondering how it happened besides the fact of how relentless he was. "I got lost in the forest yesterday after Hati ditched me," she glared at Hati for emphasis, and all Hati could do was shrug helplessly, "He found me and took me back to the Amusement Park, confessing his undying love for me the entire way there. It kinda… sparked something in me."

I smiled. That afternoon was wonderful, we each spoke of how much we loved the certain Role-holders. I wondered about what would happen if the three stayed here as well… would they go to live with the men they loved and still be in contact with me, talking about everyday life? Would they not be with the men they loved?

The next day was my time with Boris, and I bid the girls to go have fun with their Role-holders. Somehow, all of us decided to have our dates in the park when Lucy's and Hati's Role-holders didn't live there. How did they get them to consent to it?

Boris and I went on a lot of rollercoasters, had lunch, and then lay in the grass while a refreshing breeze cooled us off. Sometimes, I couldn't help but look at Boris' hair rustle in the wind, the way his ears perked up at the slightest sound.

"Abby?" Boris asked after a while of looking at the clouds and stating what each one looked like.

"Hm?" my eyes were closed, and I could feel Boris' eyes watching me.

He touched my hand and then started rolling on top of me. My eyes shot open and we ended up rolling around on the grass over each other like Ace and I did that time we decided to be siblings.

Finally, Boris set us in one position I couldn't roll my way out of, with him on top of me, at an advantage.

"Okay the game's done." I said, laughing.

"Not yet." Boris said, leaning toward me. "I want it to keep going."

I relaxed underneath him, looking deep into his yellow cat eyes. I put my hand against where his heart was, and it ticked along. He did the same with me, feeling the impact of my heartbeat.

He bent down some more, and soon his lips touched mine. He kissed me as though tasting every bit of me would always keep me close to him, and I kissed back with equal fervor. Soon, since the moment was for it, he slipped his tongue into my mouth and the kiss seemed to just get better and better.

Pulling away, Boris and I together said, "I love you."

Boris stood and helped me up as well, pulling me into another kiss where he held the back of my head to deepen it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and it led to him using his other hand to grab hold of my legs and pick me up, his arm supporting my back.

I knew one thing for sure; it had sparks and was so much better than the one I'd shared with my ex in the other world when dating. But, I know to forget him, because I'll never see him again. I was staying in Wonderland with Boris.

Later, we walked through the park hand in hand, and he had the brilliant idea to start spying on people. We listened in on conversations varying from Vivaldi's ball to pleasing Mary with a new ride.

"Oh, that reminds me," Boris said as we walked along, "Would you like to go to Vivaldi's ball with me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," I said jokingly, and then leaned my head against his shoulder, "I'd love to."

After a while I noticed something I saw that I thought entirely interesting, and the two of us hid behind a bush to listen to the conversation of the two people sitting happily under the shade of a tree.

Alicia and Pierce were just having regular conversations, nothing important, so Boris naturally got impatient after a while. But then there was a twist.

"Alicia," he'd never said Alicia's name before, because he'd call everyone Chu, including her, as for Boris he was just scary kitty. It was also different, because there was emotion behind his words.

Alicia looked at him with the same surprise I felt, and Boris froze, excited.

I took a peek and saw Alicia and Pierce seated right next to each other, and Pierce leaned over her, his hand supporting his weight.

"Vivaldi's ball is coming up," he said, surprisingly with no stutters, "So I was wondering if you wanted to go with me before you leave."

Boris and I tensed with excitement.

"S-sure, Pierce, I'll go with you." I could tell Alicia wanted very badly to say no, but she loved Pierce and couldn't bear to see his heart break. I could tell she wanted to be able to leave long before then, but Pierce was too sweet to refuse.

I noticed he was still over looming her, and I saw Alicia's face redden considerably much. The poor girl was at a loss for words.

"Y-you know," Alicia began, trying to find her words, but Pierce, in a way, came to her rescue. Though I was sure it wasn't the rescue she was hoping for.

"Alicia, I think I'm in love with you. You make me feel better and you help me hide from the scary kitty… I feel more like myself around you." Pierce started playing with Alicia's hair and her blush got brighter, so much that I was surprised she didn't jump up and run away right then.

"Really?" she asked a little dumfound, looking into her lap so she wouldn't look at him dead in the face "I've felt that same way for a while… but I just wasn't sure that you felt the same."

"Which is why I'm showing you now," Pierce said, tilting her chin to look him full in the face, "You're a beautiful girl, Alicia, and I want you to be mine."

Alicia stuttered to say something else, but Pierce wouldn't hear anything more than the confession from before. His finger went over her mouth, and when she knew to not talk, he took it away. She was completely red now from embarrassment.

Then Pierce pulled her into a kiss, which Alicia melted right into. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her into his lap, kissing her as though this would be the only time he could do it. It made me wonder if she wanted to leave at all now that Pierce confessed his love to her.

"We'd better get going," Boris whispered to me, taking my arm and pulling me away from the best scene I'd ever seen. It was better than the love confessions given in romance movies.

Once we were away from them, I said, "I think that was her first kiss."

Boris smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "You're happy for her, aren't you?"

"I am, very." I said happily. "I'm happy she found someone to treat her the way she wants."

"So what, you want Pierce now?" he asked, though only joking.

I punched him in the side. "No! I'm stuck to you, and I'm not falling for anyone else."

"Good," he said, leaning down and kissing me.

This was so far the best day of my life.


	11. Chapter 11

Eleven

Later when I got together with Alicia, Hati, and Lucy, we sat around in the forest, listening to the sounds of nature.

"So, everybody have a good day?" I asked.

"Why do you look so smug?" Hati asked me, eyeing me closely.

"I'll tell you later if you promise not to attack me for it." I said.

They promised and asked how my day with Boris was.

"Oh, it was just lovely. We went on a couple rides, had some lunch, he asked me to Vivaldi's dance," before I could go on my friends just had to make small eeps to show their happiness. "And… he kissed me for the first time today."

Gasps of shock and surprise emanated from the three girls, and then were replaced with excitement and joy.

"Now one person in this group has kissed her lovah," Lucy inputted, then turning to Alicia and Hati, "It's our turn you two."

When neither of them said anything, I decided to input for Alicia myself.

"Actually, Alicia has."

Alicia looked at me, "You saw!"

"Don't call me a stalker, Boris and I were walking around the park when we saw you two under that tree. We decided we would sit in with you two, but then he started talking about the ball, so we hid instead." I said, as it was mostly the truth. But when I said sit in, I meant in my own thoughts that we would just sit in and watch them laugh and have fun.

"How long were you watching?" she asked in shock, I was almost surprised she didn't get angry, but I've never seen her get angry before. So it was fine, I guess.

"From the question of Vivaldi's ball to the point where he first kissed you, Boris pulled me away from the scene after that." I said. "And, by the way, that romance scene was the best one I've ever seen in my _life_ of romantic movies."

Alicia and the other two laughed so hard that they were clutching their sides. Finally, only Alicia was able to compose herself.

"Did I blush?" she asked, suddenly timid.

"You have no idea," I said, smiling, "Your blush deepened every time he said something about loving you."

"Oh no!" Alicia said, covering her face.

"Alicia, that's good!" Lucy said, coming to the rescue of Alicia's embarrassment. "It shows Pierce that you like him back, but are too shy to tell him."

"He's shy, and he was able to compose himself with no blushes in order to do it!" Alicia mumbled into her hands.

"He must've been practicing then." Hati said, making her look up.

"The thing I think was amazing was that he didn't even stutter," I said to Alicia, letting the other two listen with incredulous looks, "He actually looked you in the eyes and told you he was in love with you. That means something if he went through that much trouble to get it right."

Everyone was silent for a bit and Alicia smiled thoughtfully.

"Oh, quack." Hati said, which was another way of saying, 'wait a minute'.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Black hasn't kissed me yet," she said

"Peter hasn't kissed me yet either." Lucy pouted.

"Don't worry, you will get your kisses," I said, and then looked at Lucy, "I'm just surprised Peter hasn't made a move yet, I was certain he'd kiss you first."

She looked down in her lap, "I guess it's because I'm also a 'no touchy' person. I'll… I'll let him be close to me when I feel ready."

I did a thumbs-up, "Good choice." Then I looked at both Lucy and Hati, "Have your 'lovahs' asked you to the dance, yet?"

They shook their heads with remorse.

"Well," I said thinking back on it, "They'll probably ask you to it and then go in for a kiss, as Pierce did for Alicia."

"What did Boris do?" Alicia asked.

"He kissed me first and then remembered the dance… he asked me as we walked around the park doing nothing in particular." I said. "But my story's different, I've known Boris longer."

They thought on it and nodded with mumbles of, "That's true."

"I'm thinking they want to ask you to the dance, see if you say yes, if you do, then they'll take it as a sign that you like them. Boris has already known for the past few weeks that I'm in love with him, so he kissed me first." I said, earning quizzical looks from the trio. "What?"

"When did you become so philosophical?" Hati asked.

"That's just my observations on the matter," I said, "And besides, I think your looks are better than the ones I was given from Dee and Dum when I went against the idea that Elliot is a rabbit."

"But what is he then?" Lucy asked, all three of them having just heard about it. "He sure looks like a rabbit."

"He isn't a rabbit… he's a hare!" I said.

"A hair? As in, the hair on my head?" Lucy asked, making Hati and Alicia laugh, I just patiently described to her what I meant.

"No. A hare is like a rabbit in shape and form, but it's bigger and has darker sort of colors. In my example of Elliot and Peter here, Elliot is bigger and stronger than Peter, he has orange hair and Peter has white." Lucy looked at me with a sort of defiance. "Not that I'm insulting Peter in any way, but I do know for a fact that Elliot is stronger than Peter. And no," I said, answering an unsaid question, "I did not see any sort of fight between the two, nor have I seen them face to face with each other."

Lucy at least took this as a good explanation.

Then, out of nowhere, I heard a scream. It sounded familiar and it sounded as though the person was in deep urgency. "Help! Help!"

I shot up from the ground and charged in the direction of the scream. "Lucy, Hati, go get Mary!"

They went for help while Alicia ran after me. I ran through the bushes in such a frenzy that I wasn't exactly sure what was driving me to move so fast. Was it the familiarity of the voice or the fact I knew someone was in trouble and needed help.

I tore through the bushes until I found the center of the screaming. I almost fell straight into it too, at least Alicia pulled back in time. Before me was a wide area of quicksand that I didn't know existed, and somewhere close by was a girl, about twenty five years of age, trying to the best of her ability to get out.

Looking at Alicia, her face paled and I knew mine did too. For, before us, was my sister Meggie, and she didn't notice us when we came in. She was screaming and trying to get out of the quicksand, which was sucking her in really fast as she squirmed.

Her back was to us when I said, "Stop moving, you're getting sucked in quicker."

She stopped, and tried turning around, but she was getting sucked in as she tried. "Who are you?"

"Someone who will help you, now hold on!" I said as I took a vine and tore it from the tree next to me. I tested it's length and then threw one end to her, the vine landed to her left and she turned her head to look at it. "Grab the vine! We'll pull you to safety!"

When she took the peace of vine, she wrapped it around her hand as I did. It was something I'd learned from her when I was little that was supposed to help keep a tight grip on the vine.

Alicia wrapped her arms around my waist and we both pulled Meggie out. Good thing was I wasn't alone, elsewise I wouldn't be able to move her as far as two people did. When she was safely out she took the vine off of her hand and looked at me, the first thing she saw was my own hand with the vine tightly around my hand.

I took it off and looked at it in such a way so that she didn't see my face. To Alicia I said, "Go to the spot where we were, and when Mary gets there lead him here. We may need to treat to these wounds."

She left in a blur. I wondered if she learned how to run so fast from Pierce.

When I said 'wounds' I was talking about how the thorns from the vines pierced into mine and Meggie's hands. They were bleeding very badly.

Meggie spoke in such a terrified voice that I was happy I'd turned away from her. "You didn't have to go to such trouble in order to save me. Your hand is bleeding. Why did you save me?"

"Did you want to die?" I asked, almost poisonously. I was sure she was probably surprised.

"I mean, you could've just left, but you hurt yourself in order to save me."

"You're hurt, too."

"Don't mind my injury, I took hold of that vine because I was frightened, but I'm sure you knew you would get hurt with them."

"I knew I would," I said, almost feeling empty, it was as if she didn't care for her own life, "But I've had worse injuries than this, so it's not so bad."

Finally, Mary and Boris ran in to the rescue, and they looked sort of incredulous. I wondered if it was because we kinda looked alike.

"Mary, I used a vine to reel her in. Our hands are bleeding, but otherwise we're safe."

"Thank you, I'll tend to her then." Mary said, passing by me in order to help Meggie.

"Abby!" Boris said grabbing my hand. "You little devil, did you have to use a vine?"

"It was closer to me," I said with a shrug, "I would've grabbed a rope if it was close to me."

"Your name is Abby?" I heard Meggie ask from behind me. "I knew an Abby once, I don't anymore."

"And why is that do you suppose?" I asked venomously, still not looking at her. Boris looked at me incredulously. He had never seen me so mad.

"I… stopped talking to her." Meggie said simply.

"Why?" I asked, wondering if she would say the reason.

"I don't need to tell you that!" she said defiantly.

I turned to face her. "Oh yes you do," I said to her shocked face, "Especially when I'm the Abby you 'knew.' I'll let you explain later."

"Abby!" Boris said, covering my mouth before I could say anymore. "How do you know her?"

Mary looked at me with equal surprise. I had grown to like him; he was a very kind man and had his hand on Meggie's shoulder almost like a protection. That's when I noticed how blonde her hair was, it used to be brown.

When Boris took his hand away from my mouth, I said, "She's my sister."


	12. Chapter 12

Twelve

Boris took me to his room to wait for the nurse, but I knew for sure that the nurse would not actually come to my room because she never left the hospital. Boris knew that… I just supposed he wanted me to himself. We sat on his bed, and he was sitting against the backboard on top of his pillows.

He ended up licking my wound. It was somewhat soothing and somewhat painful. His rough tongue slid across my hand surprisingly without catching on to anything. As he did this, he demanded an explanation for the way I acted.

I sighed. "She hasn't spoken to me in two years. Hasn't spoken to my parents in about three to four. We don't even know why this is so, she just stopped talking to us.

"She had kept talking to me because I was young and I was just her little sister. I suppose she stopped talking to me after a while because she decided that I gave my mom too much information about her. But, I'm still mad at her about it.

"Before I came into Wonderland, my mom sent something to Meggie and she replied back to not talk to her again or she'd call the police… My thought is that she could've at least told mom about why she's avoiding us." I said, feeling myself shake with anger again, so much that I wasn't sure how much longer I could control myself.

Boris had finished licking my hand. It was clean of blood but still burning. I looked at it, the vines had punctured deeply into my skin, and I wondered how deep Meggie's was since she was holding onto it for dear life.

My shaking attracted Boris' attention, and I suddenly found myself in his lap with him pulling my hair back behind my ear. He looked at me adoringly, and I just leaned against his chest, feeling the anger wash away from me, but only halfway.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I don't mean to get so angry over it… I just don't understand what had gone wrong."

"It's fine," he said, stroking my hair, "I know you're feeling a bit overwhelmed knowing she's here and now a part of the game. It's all right, because she'll probably hurry home as soon as she can."

I nodded, still a shaking an immense much. And, of course, I sensed Boris could feel it. He tightened his grip around my body and started nipping at my ear. His teeth sunk in and I could feel the sharpness of them.

I jumped in surprise, but Boris had such a tight grip on me that I couldn't move out of it. I moaned, wriggling around in surprise.

His teeth left my ear and he tilted my head back. Then he kissed me. He was kissing me with such deep passion that I couldn't place it. He still held me so tightly that I couldn't move anything. All I could do was kiss him back.

I had a thought. Meggie coming here must've really put me on the edge. Was he trying to calm me down?

The kiss went on, sparks flew around everywhere in my mind as he held me close. There was no source of him untightening his handle on me. I felt a little trapped, but it was okay because it was Boris. I wondered though… I felt like he wanted something from me.

He pulled away from the kiss, still strong on his hold of me. I stared back at him in a daze, feeling like I wanted more. He looked at me, the passion of this kiss had gone to his face and I was excited that the passion and love was for me.

Boris brought his face right up against mine, our foreheads touching. "Move your things in here," he whispered, "Now that we're a couple, I think we should share the room."

I couldn't do anything else. His hands seemed to tighten against my body as he said this. He brought his lips to mine again, full of wanting. His kisses seemed to enlighten me, I forgot about anything that had happened before.

When he pulled away from that one, I was breathless. "Yes," I said, bringing a smile to his face, "And you can help me."

He kissed me again, pressing his lips against mine so much that it seemed we would become attached that way. He pulled away, "Actually, you go get your stuff now. Put them in here and go hang out with your friends. They may want to know what happened with the urgent situation earlier."

Though I knew he was talking about Meggie, I surprisingly didn't overcome myself with anger once more. "All right, see you later then."


	13. Chapter 13

Thirteen

I went back to Boris' room with my stuff, there was an extra wardrobe that hadn't been there before and I placed my dresses in it. That's when I realized those were the only stuff I had, seemed that living the way I did somehow made it like I had more objects than I did.

Coming out of my new room I went to the regular place where the girls and I went for our small conversations. All three were there, and it seemed that Alicia had just finished telling them the tale of what happened. I looked up at the sky, it was afternoon.

"Abby, is it true that your sister's here?" Lucy asked in shock.

I nodded and sat down with them. "Yeah, it's true."

"You're taking this well," Alicia noted, "When we first saw her in the quicksand, your face went really white with anger. I'm surprised you went to save her."

All three, of course, knew about my problem with Meggie. So, I knew why they were so shocked, but someone like Mary wouldn't understand, he'd never seen the bad side of me before like he did when he came to the rescue.

"I am, too. But it's been done; she's here until she fills up her vial." I said, finalizing that.

"Well, we went for Gowland, Boris and Pierce," Hati said, "But in the end we only saw Boris leading you to his room and Gowland leading Meggie to an open guest room. Where'd Pierce go?"

I was confused as well, and then I looked at Alicia. Her face reddened with embarrassment and humility.

"What did he do?" I asked, happy the conversation wasn't attacked at me.

"Well," Alicia said, "When the three met up with me, I gave them directions on where it was and what was happening.

"I meant to go take a rest since that pulling was hard work and your hand was completely bloody. What I hadn't counted on was turning away from where they'd fled and seeing Pierce right there, I'd thought he went with them

"Pierce asked me if I was all right, but you know, all I could do was nod since I'd already given directions and I was feeling tired, and I didn't want him to worry. Then, he suddenly picked me up and snuck me into another part of the forest where he sat down on the ground, dropping me into his lap.

"He asked me the question again and I finally shook my head. Pierce was very worried and he asked me if I was in pain, which I shook my head to. So I told him I was just a little weary from pulling Meggie in and from seeing your hand. He understood.

"But somehow, and I don't know where he got this medical advice from, he said he knew a way to make me feel better…" she didn't go on.

"Go on! Tell us the rest!" Lucy said with excitement.

"Don't worry Alicia, we won't tell anyone. What is said in this circle stays in this circle." Hati encouraged.

She took a deep breath and went on. "He kissed me, and you know how weak I was feeling, so I couldn't move any part of my body to get away from it. All he did was hold on to my head and kiss me for the longest time; it must've been at least thirty minutes before he pulled away.

"Then he picked me up and took me to my room, laying me on my bed, and kissing me one more time before leaving. I fell asleep, and I woke up again, feeling better." Alicia finished her story, smiling at the memory. Then she looked at my hand. "Speaking of which, why aren't you wearing a bandage?"

"You know how you said you saw him taking me to my room?" I asked Lucy and Hati, they nodded. To the entire group, I repeated what had happened in full detail, explaining his tight grip when he held me, the passion of his kiss, and the love in his eyes; everything. All leading up to his request that I move into his room.

When I finished, they all stared at me. They suddenly squealed with excitement and hugged me.

"You're so ahead!" Lucy said happily. "How is it that you already got to that stage?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully, "It just happens… but those kisses. They were so passionate… he's really in love with me. That's all that matters right now besides the friendship I have with you three."

They all giggled happily.

When they all sat back down, I was surprised to see Black right behind Hati. I was the only one to see him, and he put his finger to his lips to show I was to be quiet. I hid behind my hand as I smiled knowingly. I could get used to Black if I didn't have to see him in his prison form; somehow he was nicer outside of that role.

He grabbed Hati from behind and she squeaked in surprised, turning her head to see him smiling at her. She relaxed, but couldn't help the glare that aimed towards him.

"You scared me!" she said, holding onto his hand tightly. I don't even think she noticed, nor the fact that Black was blushing from the move. Lucy and Alicia noticed, too, luckily we decided not to do anything.

"Sorry, but I thought it would be nice to surprise you every once in a while." Black said. His voice was smooth and even as he spoke. It sounded much nicer without his foul words rambling out, and I guessed that as the warden he had to learn a few things to intimidate the prisoners.

Hati was entirely oblivious to his blushing and to the girls' trying their best not to laugh at Black. That was until she spotted my face; I was smiling relentlessly and decided not to cover it up.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, it's just he sounds so much nicer than when he's Black the Prison Warden. I think I like Black the nice guy much better." I said, making Hati look at me, and even Black glared at me as though he hadn't wanted her to know about the horrible things he did. I said to Black, "Don't glare, it's part of your job. Another reason to say that here and now is so that Alicia and Lucy know not to get on your bad side."

That's where he nodded in agreement.

"That's right," Hati said optimistically, "And that is why he very dear to me."

Black went totally red, but then he composed himself and smiled, standing up. "That reminds me why I came here. If I could speak to you alone, Hati?"

"Sure," she said, standing up and following him.

I looked at Alicia and Lucy, we nodded our agreement. Slowly, we made our way after them until we saw them sit by a small riverside. All three of us thought dramatically about how romantic this spot was.

"What is it you want to talk about that's so important?" Hati asked. "It must be since we're doing this alone instead of with the girls."

"Because I want to ask you to Vivaldi's ball," Black said straightforwardly. "It is not a matter for your friends to try to answer to. I want to hear your exact thought on the matter."

This was really new to me. Black could be very romantic when he wanted to, and those were the best lines I had ever heard. Not that I had even thought I would hear anything like it from him, but there's something new for everything.

Hati looked at him incredulously, as though thinking the same thing, and Black remained immovable from his position. It made me think about what could happen if I poked him, he would probably fall over he looked so stiff I had a feeling he was frightened.

"Well, what other thoughts would I have besides to say yes? I will go to Vivaldi's ball with you gladly." Hati said, making me believe her to be a genius in conversations such as this.

I was entirely happy when every muscle in Black's body loosened in relief. Why would he expect her to say no? Wait… my ideas from before. He's taking that road as well. All the guys in Wonderland do… he's going to confess his love to her! Perhaps even kiss her!

My logic had been right, and Hati would see that soon enough.

Hati turned around and picked up a white daisy from the grass, admiring it while something blocked the sun from her view on it. Turning around, she was captivated by Black's ruby eye staring at her lovingly.

The girls were literally jumping in their sitting positions, they were excited. I was surprised I didn't, but yet I had done it before when watching Alicia and Pierce. Boris was able to keep me down then.

"Hati…" Black said, bringing his hand down her cheek with such tenderness that she looked back at him blankly. "I've fallen in love with you… how do you feel about that?"

I liked that he was asking her for input so that she wasn't entirely left in the dark on what he was doing here. Though, everyone in Wonderland seemed to have enough manners to do that, no problem.

Hati was at a total loss for words, she stared back at him, dumfounded, but the love and happiness clearly showed through. "I love you too… I do. That's the best news-"

She couldn't finish her sentence, for Black had closed the distance between them and touched his lips to hers. He pulled her closer to him, and she complied, scooting over as well and bringing a hand to the back of his neck as one of his hands held her other one. His free hand wrapped around her waist.

I had to pull the girls away from the scene this time, pushing them to the regular meeting spot. They were smiling happily, uncontrollably.

"You two, we need to act as though we were having a normal conversation and didn't sneak a peek." I said, laughing.

"Something else needs to come up in order for us to do that," Lucy said, happily spinning around, "I can't believe I saw that!"

"All that is left for a kiss is you then, Lucy." I said, bringing the conversation down finally.

She sat down and said. "Peter and I were so close to kissing today, you would not believe it! Afterwards, I regretted not letting him do it, I-"

"What?" Alicia asked in shock. "You didn't let him kiss you? Why?"

"It just… he moved in for a kiss, and I freaked out! I looked for something to keep him from doing it until I saw Ace. I pretended I didn't see his attempt and I went 'hey, Ace!' I feel like such an idiot, because after that, Peter looked a little dejected! What do I do?"

Lucy was in such a distress that she had stood up again. I stood as well, put my hands on her shoulders, and pushed her back down, sitting in front of her.

"Don't worry about it," I said, "He'll try for another kiss, because if I know his persistence, then that's what he'll do."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I nodded seriously.

Hati and Black came back hand-in-hand, smiling at each other lovingly. I had never seen the two of them look like that with anyone.

"Whoa," I said, attracting their attention, "What's with the sudden change in mood?"

"Nothing," Hati said sweetly, "Why do you ask?"

I was speechless, fake speechless of course, which is what they would expect from someone who didn't see an entire scene.

"Exactly," Black said, making me raise an eyebrow at him. To Hati he said, "I better get back to work, but I'll talk to you later."

She nodded, and before he left, they did a quick peck on the lips. Alicia, Lucy, and I made our best surprised looks we could manage, making Black laugh.

Once he was out of sight, Hati asked, "How much did you guys see?"

"How did you know we saw?" Alicia asked.

"You guys are my friends. I can see it in your eyes. Only Black doesn't realize that you saw, though he knows I'd tell you guys about. It's just as Pierce doesn't know Boris and Abby watched you two kiss." Hati said to Alicia, making her blush again.

"Hold! None of us even saw you and Boris kiss! That's not fair!" Lucy accused, a finger pointed right at me.

"Have you not seen us kiss before?" I asked innocently.

"No, we haven't, but we know you aren't lying about it. But what I'm saying is that we didn't see that scene where the two of you had your first kiss." Alicia said.

"Actually, all of you have just had your first kisses ever, except for Lucy who is left out of the people that have kissed before. My defense in this is that you saw my first kiss in the other world; all of you were spying then. So I spy now." I said.

They agreed it was a valid argument.

"We still need to see the two of you kiss," Hati said, "You two Alicia, only Abby saw your kiss, we want to see it."

"All right," Alicia and I said together.


	14. Chapter 14

Fourteen

I left the girls when daytime came right after the afternoon. I wondered when the time period would be nightfall. It was always a problem here because I could never tell when nighttime would come.

I walked around the Amusement Park for a bit, watching faceless people come and go on rides and in funhouses. What I hadn't expected to see, though, was watch a person with white rabbit ears and a red coat come walking through.

Peter walked up to me, looking thoroughly confused. "Have you seen my dear, Lucy? Has she been near your group settee?"

I didn't like it when he actually tried to rhyme. It just made it difficult to say something good. Luckily he hadn't been doing it often around me, nor around Lucy, in fact he never did it around Lucy now that I'd thought about it.

"I don't know, I believe she's still with Hati and Alicia. I had left them just a short while ago." I said, much to his disappointment. Though, I thought to myself, he looked a little lost. "Is something wrong, Peter?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing, I'm just wondering why foreigners don't like me." Peter's ears drooped and I found myself feeling incredibly terrible. He wanted someone to love. Especially since he hated most people and couldn't stand being near them whatsoever. People like Ace, which surprised me as to why he just talked to me.

"Oh, Peter, perhaps it's because you jump them too many times, and pretty much every moment you see them. If you toned that down a bit-" I couldn't finish, Peter interrupted.

"I toned it down for Lucy yesterday… she had a good time I believe. Though, she was entirely not there when I tried to kiss her, she didn't notice my movement." Peter said, totally lovesick.

"Now hold on," I said, capturing his attention, "You shouldn't just make a move to try and kiss her. You need to tell her how you feel, and I don't mean just babbling about it. I mean starting the conversation off by asking her to Vivaldi's ball, and when she says yes, confess how much you love her. Make the moment special."

Peter thought this through very thoroughly.

"Trust me when I say that you aren't popular with other foreigners because they didn't feel the same about you. Notice how they all avoid you. Lucy on the other hand spent a time period with you. That's special, don't you think?" I asked.

"Yes… I suppose you're right. How do I get a good time to talk to her?"

"Pick a time when you are free and when she is free," I said, "Tell her to meet you at the next time period, or the next nightfall or something. Just pick a time you feel comfortable with, pick a place, and you have your scene there."

I noticed the sky darkened and started walking towards Boris' room, Peter walking beside me, thinking it through.

"Abby…" he said, and then trailed off, seemingly having a very hard time saying the last line or two.

"Yes?" I asked.

"T-t-t-t-thank y-y-y-y-you… thank you, for the advice."

It seemed as though he'd never thanked anyone before.

"You're welcome… glad I could help. Tell me how it goes." I said, turning to the door where I opened it. "Have a good night, Peter."

"You too." he said. Then he walked off, whistling what sounded to me a happy tune.

Closing the door behind me I was trapped against it by Boris. It was entirely dark in the room and his eyes showed suspicion.

"Hello," I said, going into what I called 'Ace mode' where it seemed that nothing was threatening me. "How has your time period been?"

"What were you doing with Peter?" he asked, holding onto my wrists and placing them next to my head in such a way that I felt I was being closely scanned at the airport.

"He wanted advice on how to woo Lucy… he believes all foreigners don't like him, and yet I know for a fact that Lucy does." I said, feeling my breath quicken as he looked at me, his eyes seeming to bore into my soul. "If he liked me at all, he would've hugged me after that. You know that to be true."

"That's certain," he nodded, "But I don't want you near any man without a foreigner he's madly in love with."

"Won't be like that with Peter for long," I said, "I'm sure he'll have Lucy… after all that's been going on I think the girls are planning to stay in Wonderland."

There was no more discussion. How do I know this? Because Boris lowered his face down to my neck and bit it, not so much that I would bleed, but so much that my breath hitched and that I was sure he left marks. He sucked on the flesh went down over to my shoulder where he stopped to look up at me.

"I have bit you as my own," he said lustfully, "You can't be with anybody else. Understand?"

I felt the demand enter through my body, as though his bite gave him the power to control me. "Of course, I love only you. I will go for no one else- Ah!"

He'd caught on to my neck again, and I decided it was a request to stop talking. Boris was very demanding when he wanted to be sure I was his… and, the thing was, I was okay with it. He was the only one in Wonderland who has these sort of feelings for me, and not that I'm desperate, but I love him back. It's the way cats are anyways, demanding.

Boris let go and then pulled me into a kiss, holding on to me tight and fast. Then, he let go of my wrists and picked me up, allowing me to wrap my arms around his neck. He made his way over to the bed, pulled away from the kiss, and flipped me onto it.

I felt the covers go over me as he grabbed them and went under them as well. He then grabbed me and I was brought into an even deeper kiss where he pushed as close as possible to me. I wondered if the kiss would ever end, Boris kept it there and didn't make any move to break the kiss. His arms were wrapped around me so that I couldn't even use my arms. They were helpless at my side as he held them captive and used one hand to stay at the back of my head.

My eyes were closed as I felt him make every move to make sure I was still with him. I found myself feeling heated, breathing against his skin, his breathing against my skin, warming my face up.

When he finally pulled away, he still held me captive as he looked me over with adoring eyes. "All right, let's go to bed," he said, loosening his grip around my body. "I love you, Abby."

"I love you, too, Boris. More than you're giving me credit for." I said with a smile.

He smiled as well, "Show me what that is before we go to sleep."

Without hesitation I rolled on top of him and held fast to his cheeks as I kissed him, hungrily tasting everything of him. I moved one hand up to his ear and did what I had never actually done with him before. I scratched his ears and he moaned pleasurably throughout the kiss, and I made extra care not to scratch the earrings.

After a while of that, Boris, it seemed, had enough of being on the bottom. He rolled over top of me, still keeping our lips intact. Then he moved away from my lips to whisper into my ear, "Perhaps we should be like this the entire night."

I gave a soft laugh. "No, it would be best to fall asleep. We can still be close, though."

Boris gave a big smile.

I turned around so my back was to him and he put one arm under my head and the other around my waist. It was so comfortable that we were asleep in seconds.

I awoke to the sound of knocking at the door, opening my eyes a crack and still feeling very sleepy.

"Come in," Boris said croakily, giving a small kiss to my head.

We were still in the position we had fallen asleep in, and I didn't want to move from it because it was comfy and warm. I brought my head against his chest, feeling him breathing at a normal, steady pace.

The door opened and in came Pierce and Alicia. Pierce's arm was around her shoulder and both were open-mouthed when they saw us.

"What?" Boris asked, making Pierce's mouth move without any sound coming out. He was truly terrified of Boris.

"Gowland wants you and Pierce now, he's called a meeting and only Pierce heard it. I had to encourage him to come get you so you wouldn't get in trouble." Alicia said, holding onto Pierce's hand comfortingly.

"Oh, well thanks for the heads up." Boris said, sitting up in the bed with a stretch.

I still lay there in the bed, turning onto my back as he slowly moved out of bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he turned to look at me.

"I am not getting up only for you to just lie there," he said with a chuckle, grabbing on to my hand. "Come on, sleeping late doesn't help you get up."

He pulled me up to a sitting position and turned to Alicia, "Make sure she doesn't fall asleep."

She nodded.

Boris then turned to me and gave me a soft kiss before standing up and walking toward the couple. He caught onto Pierce, who let go of Alicia acquiescently, and pushed him all the way to the meeting.

Alicia walked over to me and forcefully pulled me out of the bed, I half-complied, but she still had to use most of her strength. We laughed the way through, and she called me a lazy bum throughout half of it.

When I was finally standing, she said, "Come on, the girls should be at the tree by now, Lucy has something she wants to say."

Somehow my mind went to Peter. "How many time periods have I been asleep?"

"About two. We all saw you go to your room at the last nighttime and then it switched to afternoon. It's early morning now." Alicia said.

They had seen Peter walking with me. "So you saw Peter as well?"

"Yeah, Lucy was a little suspicious because he walked away whistling. We told her not to worry unless we saw it happen again. What did you do to make him so happy?" Alicia asked; suspicion was also on her tongue.

"Nothing serious, he was asking me for advice on how to woo Lucy in fact.

"Really? I wonder what she wants to talk about, because she sounded very excited when she talked to Hati and I." Alicia said, smiling.

We reached the small spot where Hati lie on her back, looking at the sky, and Lucy was walking around singing an unfamiliar song. When Alicia and I sat down, Hati sat up quickly, it seemed that she, too, was excited to know what was so important.

Lucy walked back and forth, "Okay so Alicia and Hati… you remember when we saw Abby walking to her room with Peter and him whistling when he walked away?"

The two nodded, and I smirked, Lucy didn't notice it though.

"Well, when Peter came up to me, whistling that same tune, I was going to confront him about it though you two told me not to.

"He had different plans. He didn't allow me to say anything as he told me to meet him when the next time period came up and to be at the entrance to the maze of Heart Castle. Then he walked right by me, so I had no choice but to go there.

"When I stood by in wait there, he surprised me my walking from outside of the maze when I was looking out. All thoughts of what I'd seen left my mind as I started laughing like a maniac at the shock.

"Then we sat down a while, talking, when he brought up Vivaldi's ball and asked me to it. I said yes instantly which made him smile very happily, and I didn't realize what was going on until he caught me in a kiss. It was… amazing!

"Then when he pulled away from me, he said he loved me, and he was looking straight into my eyes as he said so. It was so much more meaningful than when he was blabbering on about it when not looking at me…. I told him I loved him as well." Lucy finally finished. Having spilled all that out, she sat down with a happy sigh, closing her eyes as though to relive the memory.

We all congratulated her, but when she opened her eyes again, she looked at me with curiosity.

"Why was Peter walking you to your room the night before? He came away whistling… what did you do?" Lucy asked.

"All that happened was that he asked me on how best to woo you… well, more like he asked why foreigners don't like me and told me about when he first tried to kiss you. So I gave him some pointers that other foreigners don't like him in the same way, and I told him what to do in order for him to do what he had done." I said.

She looked at me open-mouthed. "So you told him exactly what to do? Is that why he looked me in the eyes when he said he loved me? Did you force him into it?"

I shook my head vigorously. "No! I mostly allowed him to do what he needed in order to show you how much he truly loved you. I only said to start with asking you to Vivaldi's ball, since he made it clear he wanted to, and to move up from there. With the confession, I only said to be serious about it."

I was caught in a large hug.

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you again! I owe you!" Lucy said, pulling away from me with a bright grin on her face.

"Oh no, don't worry about it," I said, "My treat."

They all laughed.

"I've only ever heard you say that for when you paid for all our meal-times out" Hati said.

"'My treat' can be used for more than just food, besides we don't have money in this world. The guys basically pay for us whether we want them to or not." I said, laughing as well. Though, I had mostly been the one paying because I had a job. The girls only got allowances from their parents.

The time period suddenly changed to afternoon, and we kept talking. About everything and about nothing. We lay on the grass, and I felt it rustle against my arms and legs.

Then, "Eek!" came from the other three, but the same phenomenon happened to me.

On top of all our stomachs were the Role-holders: Black, Boris, Peter, and Pierce; and they all laughed at the surprised squeaks.

I looked down at Boris who smiled at me and then moved to lie on the grass next to me, grabbing hold of my hand. He was so ecstatic that I was seriously wondering what the guys had it plan for us.

Looking at everyone else, the other guys had done the same.

"So," I said, humor behind my voice, the situation was funny, "What up with you guys? Something interesting happen besides the little surprise you gave us?"

All four laughed. "Yup!" they said.

"We have something interesting we saw as we all had planned to do this little occasion with you girls." Peter said.

"It is good for Gowland, and good for that new foreigner." Black said.

This time surprise came to me. I hadn't thought it possible. "Mary and Meggie are together?"

"Yeah!" they all said.

Boris squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"It's okay," I whispered to him, "It'll be fine if she goes… if it leads to her deciding to stay in Wonderland, then I'll try to have a conversation with her. Try to… be close to her again."

"All right," Boris said with a smile.

To the rest of the group I said, "Awesome! Uh, when's the party?

"At the next night time period." Pierce said.

The conversation went on from there, and I felt like it was really amazing. I became friends with the girls', as I could probably say by now, boyfriends. Then up came an entirely new surprise.

"Hello, you all, this is quite the group." it was a male voice.

We all turned our heads in some way, as we were in a circle with our feet toward the center and the voice was behind Boris and I. I saw, upside-down of course, Mary with his arm around Meggie. She looked at me with was looked to be an apologetic smile, so I mouthed to her to talk to me later, and she nodded.

"Hey old man." Boris said jokingly.

"He's not old!" Alicia said. "Where do you see the white hair?"

"Uh, nowhere." Boris said.

Mary chuckled. "I've decided to have a dinner, and only you couples are invited as I want a little time for you to meet Meggie. So, come, it's now."

We all stood up with groans of, "Couldn't it have been later?"

"Nope!" Mary said excitedly. "The workers are still setting it up, but we can have a small conversation until they finish."

I decided to take this time to nod to Meggie. She nodded back and whispered something to Mary, which he nodded to.

"I'm going to go talk to Meggie. I'll be there for the dinner though." I whispered to Boris, and then walked away from him.

When we found a tree a little ways away from where the group stood waiting for the dinner to be ready, Meggie immediately started apologizing.

"Look, I'm really sorry I stopped talking to you in the other world. It's true. I left because I had a feeling you were giving information to mom. I just… wanted to live life without her because she hadn't approved of my first boyfriend. Or any boyfriend in fact." Meggie said, trying to keep going.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, that's all the information I need. You're forgiven. I just thought I should talk to you before you left… or in case you stayed and I had to pretty much see you every day."

She laughed. "I might be leaning towards staying. Mary has been so nice to me, and I think I'm in love with him."

"Ah, so you use his first name?" I asked with a big grin.

"Yeah, he told me you were much like me in the way you use his first name instead of last name." Meggie said.

I giggled before saying, "His first name had to be told to me by Boris, because usually he doesn't want other foreigners to know."

"How long have you been in Wonderland? Only a couple weeks?" she asked.

"Oh, I think it's been longer than that, like about a month or two. The thing is I went in here one time after school and was here for a while before I was returned home. Though I didn't finish my role… so I woke up in the hospital and went crazy, and I just ran out and to the spot where I had first been taken into Wonderland." I said.

"Really? I was surprised when I saw you here, not just because I had happened to run across you, but because in the other world, you're dead."

I was shocked. "What?"

She nodded. "Apparently the story goes like this. You were hit by a car and went into the hospital for about a month. When you finally woke up, you weren't yourself and you made your way out of the hospital shouting things out like crazy. Later they found you lying next to a tree, dead because you had climbed up a tall tree and fell off of it."

I looked at her incredulously.

"It… uh, went into the news, and when I saw it I ran back to our parents' house and hugged them. I explained to them about why I stopped talking to them." Meggie said, thinking back on the memory. "Mom was so happy I was back, but she was still shedding tears over your death. So I went to the spot where you'd fallen out of the tree, but I heard a shot and I fell down a big hole that wasn't there before."

An idea came into my head. "So, if you stay here, then you'll have died from being shot. Did it sound like a gunshot?"

"Yeah… but who would shoot me?" she asked thoughtfully.

I shrugged my shoulders. "No clue."

"Hey, Meggie! Abby! Dinner is served!" Mary said, and we turned to see him with his arms wide open as a movement to welcome us warmly. Boris stood next to Mary, scowling at him.

We laughed and walked back to them. Meggie went with Mary and I went with Boris into the dining place.

Everyone was sitting at the table in their couples, I sat next to Hati and Boris sat next to Pierce, though the two were more than unhappy about it. Luckily they decided to ignore each other.

It was a good evening. I hardly paid attention to what I ate because I was listening to the conversations intently. Soon we were sent to bed. I went to the bedroom with Boris. We lie down and fell asleep almost instantaneously.


	15. Chapter 15

Fifteen

I awoke to the feeling of my hair being lightly tugged, but it was just Boris stroking my hair. I turned to look at him and he caught me in a kiss. The movement woke me up and I returned it gladly.

"How long have we been sleeping?" I asked, sitting up.

"Only one time period, it's okay though, it only went to midday. I think Vivaldi's ball is at the next time period.

"Oh, cool." I said, lying back down next to him.

He rolled on top of me. "Not that we can fall back asleep, else we probably will miss it." he said with a grin. He bent down started nipping at my ear.

"I'm not trying to fall – ay! – asleep. It's just – ah… – I don't want to move." I said, having Boris playing with my ear the entire time. So, I started scratching his ear, making him moan again.

"Oh… ah… not the ear… too comfortable." he said, taking my hand away from his ear and instead rubbing it against his cheek, soft and smooth.

"Hm, okay then, let's get up." I said, moving to sit up, but he still lay on top of me. I tried wriggling away, but he was too heavy and strong to get off. Curse my weak strength.

"Not now," he said, lingering over my face. Then he added jokingly, "It's not every day I can see your beautiful face."

"Well, I see your handsome face pretty much every time we go to sleep and every time we wake up from now on, and I get to see your face at Vivaldi's ball. How do you not see my beautiful face if I see your handsome face?' I asked logically.

He chuckled. "You are too smart young lady."

"Sometimes that's a good thing," I said, "Being book-smart helps as much as being street-smart."

He smiled, and it seemed to have a secret behind it. "In order to make you excited for the ball I'm going to give you a clue on what will happen. I will dance with you until we get hungry, we eat, and then we go out onto the balcony where I will ask you a very serious question. Whatever you answer, will change the events that happen from now on."

"That's exciting," I said, wondering what kind of question it could be, "Do I really have to wait for the question?"

"It must be asked on a special occasion," he said with a bright smile, "You won't have to wait too long for it."

"!" came from the next room over, and I looked toward the door.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"I… don't know." Boris said with confusion. He rolled off of me just in time for the door to burst open.

In the doorway was Lucy and Hati, they made another eek when they saw us but recovered, knowing this was our chosen setting for two nights already, and seemed happy to see us awake. They eeked their way to my side, pulled me out of bed, and ran in the direction of Pierce's room.

"Hati! Lucy! What is going on?" I asked them as they pulled me along.

They stopped in front of Pierce's open door and pointed inside. Their faces were filled with joy, and not the fear I had thought their eeks had suggested. Inside were Pierce and Alicia in bed, lying close to each other, still asleep throughout all the noise.

"Oh, um, should we wake them up?" I asked.

The two nodded.

"You want another conversation with just the four of us?"

They nodded again.

"Okay, wake them up and meet in the regular place. I'm just going to console Boris so that he knows what you freaked out about." I said, leaving them.

Back in our room, Boris asked, "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"It's fine, I thought they were scared of something, but when we reached the destination they looked more excited than frightened." I said, rubbing my head, their screaming got to me in full speed.

"What were they excited about?" he asked, rubbing my temples for me.

"Mm, they opened Pierce's room and Alicia is in bed with him. They're waking her up now, seems they want to have another conversation between just the four of us." I said. "So, I'll have to go pretty soon…"

"All right," he said, turning me around and giving me a kiss, "I'll see you later then."

In our conversation spot, Hati and Lucy were excited and Alicia was just red in the face. That didn't happen to me when Alicia and Pierce walked in when Boris and I were still sleeping. Perhaps Alicia's sleeping arrangement was an accident.

"So, what's happening?" I asked.

Lucy and Hati pointed to Alicia, "She should explain first," they said, trying to calm themselves down.

"It was an accident!" Alicia retorted. "Pierce and I walked along with each other after everyone left the dinner. We walked to his room and I just came in to talk with him.

"After a while I started to stand up, he stood up too and caught me in another kiss. It was as though he really didn't want me to leave him, and we ended up falling over on the bed.

"I didn't remember what was happening or what was going on, my mind was entirely out of it. Then I know I woke up to find Lucy and Alicia in my face and Pierce's arm wrapped around me." Alicia was having a small mental breakdown.

"Alicia… Alicia! It's all right, don't worry about it, next thing you know, you'll probably move in with him." I said.

"I already did," she said, "After Lucy and Hati left, I turned to look at Pierce and his eyes weren't baggy anymore. When I pointed it out, he said that I help him sleep, and then he asked if I would move in with him. I agreed and put my stuff into his room before coming here.

"But I feel bad about it because I wasn't expecting this until I felt entirely sure our relationship would last. I don't know whether or not I want to leave Wonderland now.

"Oh! Abby, how do you do it?" she asked in despair.

"It's okay, Alicia. Pierce knows that you're still thinking about going home, and he'll be fine with whatever choice you make. Don't let his sleep stop you from doing what you want to do." I said.

When Alicia was finally consoled, Lucy and Hati said, "We've moved out of the Amusement Park."

"Whoa, sudden change." I said, putting my hands up.

They giggled.

"Peter asked me after the dinner if I would move in with him, same thing happened with Black and Hati, both of us were unsure about it, but in the end we agreed." Lucy said, talking extremely fast. I was surprised I understood anything of what she said.

"Did they get you to comply through kisses?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. When they nodded, I said, "Totally understandable."

"So we moved our stuff, told Mary, and slept with them last night." Hati said. "I went to the circus with Black, and then everything turned grey and we were in his prison. He walked me through until we reached his room where I put my stuff down and we went to bed."

"Same with me," Lucy said excitedly, "Except of course we didn't go into a different dimension, we just went to Heart Castle, went into his room, and then went to bed."

"Of course we shared a couple kisses and biting before sleep." Hati said.

Lucy nodded in agreement.

Alicia blushed again. "Another thing that happened last night that was unexpected, him biting my neck and saying he'd bitten me as his own."

"Us too!" Lucy and Hati said together.

"Me as well." I said, thinking back on it. He had been so lustful. "Trust me, it's worse with Boris because he has cat teeth." Not that I minded it though.

"Ooh," they all said. "Yeah."

The conversation went on from there, and we each had to go into detail on what happened. I explained everything with Boris and they explained everything as well.

When the time period changed to dark, we all hurried to our new homes to get ready. The other girls had gotten their dresses some time ago and I was excited to get mine on.

Ace had come just as the time period changed. He could be on time when he wanted. He was with Styrr who wore a black dress with red roses all over it, and I just had to compliment it. It was so pretty on her.

Of course, I put my dress on and showed the two of them first, since Ace did demand that when he first bought it for me. They nodded agreement that it was perfect for me to wear.

Then, in burst Boris in a tuxedo. He was so handsome in it. But he looked more worried than excited for going to the ball. "We haven't gotten you-" I could tell he was about to say dress until he saw what I was wearing. "When did you get that lovely dress?" he looked me over with adoration.

"Ace bought it for me. He wanted to see me in it before anyone else." I said. I walked over to him and noticing the rose pin on the jacket. "You look so handsome in this."

"And you look stunning," he said, bringing his lips to mine. He then looked up at Ace and Styrr and said, "Thank you."

"Hey, no problem." Ace said walking up to Boris and giving him a small handshake. This was the most formal I'd ever seen the two of them act. "Anything for my little sister and her kinda beau."

I laughed and leaned against Boris as we walked arm-in-arm with Ace and Styrr to Vivaldi's ball.


	16. Chapter 16

Sixteen

At Heart Castle, everything was set and almost everybody was already there. There were faceless and Role-holders, including Julius Monrey.

"Does the ball have to be imperative?" I asked, wondering what Julius thought of all of this. I knew him not to be very sociable, so these kinds of events seemed to be as though he would avoid them if he could.

"Yeah, all Role-holders must take part in all the events that come up so that they set some sort of example for the faceless people. Even Nightmare, Gray, and Julius have to go though they aren't part of the war." Boris said.

"Speaking of Julius, where is he?" Ace asked.

I pointed to the punch table where he sat in a chair with Skylar right beside him. He looked at the entire setting with disgust.

Ace and Styrr walked over to him with smiles on their faces, and I decided it would be best not to ask about what they were thinking of doing.

"Shall we dance, then?" Boris asked.

I nodded. He held my hand out with his and brought the other one to my waist as I placed my free hand across his arm and touching his shoulder.

The last time I'd danced with someone, I found it hard to look them straight in the face and found myself looking around. With Boris, I didn't do that. We just talked as we moved across the floor.

"Hey, looks your friends are having a good time." Boris said, looking behind me.

We spun around so that I could see, and I saw all of them dancing and laughing. I smiled, and it became even broader when I saw Meggie with Mary, we turned again so that he could see that.

"I have a feeling they're all going to stay in Wonderland." I said.

"For sure," he said, "Makes things better for you when I'm busy."

"I guess so," I said, looking up at him and getting lost in his yellow eyes, "I made the right decision to stay here."

"I'm glad you made the decision," he said, twirling me around, "Which is why, since you plan to stay with me, I have an important question to ask you. Let's get a snack and then I'll lead you to a quiet spot."

Boris led me away from the dance floor and sat me down in a chair while he went to get some punch. I sat there, watching everyone move swiftly across the floor with grace.

"Abby?" I heard.

Turning my head to look at who it was, there was Meggie, Hati, Alicia, and Lucy looking they'd just learned something amazing.

"We've decided to stay in Wonderland." Alicia said while all three nodded agreement.

"Really, are you sure?" I asked, overjoyed.

They nodded happily.

"We could never leave you, and besides… I've fallen in love with it." Meggie said with a bright smile.

"It's pretty easy to do when the Role-holders here are so kind." I said.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Boris asked, sitting next to me and handing me a cup of punch.

"They _have_ all decided to stay here." I said, "Sounds like I have some people to talk to in my free time from you now."

Everyone laughed and the girls left to go back to dancing while Boris took me out to a free balcony that had a view of every piece of land in Wonderland. To the right was the Amusement Park, to the left Hatter Mansion, and a ways across was Clover Tower.

Once I turned away from the view, kneeling on the ground in front of me was Boris, and I felt myself blush. He rummaged in his pockets and took out a small velvet box.

"Boris…" I said, awe in my voice as he opened in and there showed a pair of rings, both beautiful silver. One was larger than the other, and I supposed they were for both of us to wear.

"Abby… will you marry me?" he asked.

I gave a small squeak of happiness. "Yes… Yes! I will, I will!"

Boris stood and I hugged him tightly.

He chuckled into my hair as he hugged me back. "Glad to see you're happy about it… I almost expected tears of no… or yes. Either one could've happened."

I laughed. "No kidding, but this is always something to be extremely happy about."


	17. Chapter 17

I think the best part about Wonderland, the certain Country of Hearts, was the way in which we announced our engagement and that Vivaldi said everyone would have the marriage ceremony along with us. I guess it was considering how every role-holder now had someone they loved and who lived with them… so no one had yet married.

Everyone was very excited about it, and Vivaldi had decided for some parties celebrating the upcoming wedding. It was going to be one whole wedding for every person, and she went over how the ceremony would go, knowing we knew a different way.

The best thing about this ceremony was that Vivaldi got wedding dresses for all of us, and for all the guys she got tuxedos made special. We didn't see them yet, either the dresses or the tuxedoes, because she wanted to give us surprises for the special day.

Boris and I spent as much time as possible with each other when Mary decided to let him off of work because he wanted to spend more time with Meggie.

"I have to say, your sister is my savior in this sense." Boris had said once, while kissing my neck. He had had his arms wrapped around my waist and took to keeping me that way for some time.

I chuckled, "She has her moments."

Meggie spent some of her time with me, getting to know what's changed about my personality since she last talked to me from before Wonderland. Whenever she wasn't with me, she was either with Mary, or she went to Hatter Mansion or Heart Castle to be with Alice and Vivaldi. She'd become fairly close friends with them.

When Meggie was with Alice and, or, Vivaldi, I was with Hati, Alicia, and Lucy. Lucy and Alicia mostly freaked over the impending marriage me and Hati were in charge of calming them.

"To have Peter all to myself…" Lucy said, dazed.

"You have him all to yourself already." Hati reminded her.

"But… marriage actually binds us together like our relationship doesn't." Lucy then smiled, "It's so wonderful when we're together; he's so excited about the wedding."

We all gave knowing smiles. We were all excited, too, of course, but yet everything still seemed like a dream that was too good to be true. No matter how many times we pinched ourselves, it didn't end, and we were so glad about that.

"True," I said, "Marriage does bind two people together a lot further than a normal relationship. That's what makes it amazing…"

It got me thinking. What will life be like after I've married Boris? Will it still go on like normal, or will a few things change? By how much would those little things change? _What_ could possibly change? The best marriage I could think off on was the relationship between my own parents, the way they joked with each other and were together whenever possible. Sounded liked myself and Boris.

"Doing all right, Abby?" Alicia asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I gave a small smile, "I guess the wedding is coming up on my nerves, too."

"Yeah, well we are all nervous I'm sure," Hati said, "It'll be much worse on the day _of_ the wedding."

"Very helpful, Hati," Lucy said sarcastically, "I feel _so_ much better."

I woke in Heart Castle, all the other girls of Wonderland in the room with me. We'd spent the night together as our last night alone before being married. None of us could sleep at first, so we'd spent at least half the night talking.

The guys were at the other end of the castle, and the king was with them just as Vivaldi was with us.

It was a surprise to me that I woke up and found I was wide-awake. Everybody else was, too, we were all teeming with nerves and anxiety. There was no going back to sleep now, even if we tried by taking a sleeping potion.

Vivaldi was already wearing a formal dress of the normal black and white, and she decided we'd best put on our wedding dresses now.

Apparently, Vivaldi decided that we shouldn't all wear white dresses because we 'of course' didn't want to all look alike. She reserved the white dress, with a magenta flower along with the veil, for Alice.

All the guys were wearing the regular tuxedo; it was just their ties and flowers that separated them from each other.

The dresses were all similar but for their varied colors.

My dress was a dark pink, which a dark pink rose went along perfectly with (obviously).

Skylar's dress was gold, the finishing touch a clivia flower.

Styrr's dress amber with an amber rose.

Sakura had a dress of red, with a red rose.

Hinata a dress of blue, brought together with a hydrangea.

Alex donned a grey dress, with beautiful dove gray flowers.

Ivy wore silver dress likened by a silver rose.

Elizabeth was beautifully shown in bronze, with a bronze pansy.

Lucy had both white and red in her dress with the roses to match.

Alicia looked perfect in orange with a pretty marigold flower.

Hati wore black, going perfectly with her hair and a black pansy

Meggie wore the innocently bright yellow complimented by an achillea.

It was all perfectly varied in colors for everyone. Everybody had their own individual differences from anyone else. Vivaldi was overly proud of her work.

I had to admit, I never imagined I'd be wearing a pink dress for my wedding day. Even if my husband-to-be had pink hair – which mine happened to have – I didn't think of the thought of wearing pink. Of course, white was the norm so I had always assumed my wedding would be normal.

I'm not sure how long it was before we left our room in our dresses and stood in a straight line. We were to go in one at a time and be wedded by the king and queen together, in order of which foreigner came to Wonderland first.

I was eighth in line and felt my nerves bundle up in a giant knot, happy I wasn't one of the first three or four. Each person took fifteen minutes and, so I was told, would sit down in chairs in the front of the crowd and watch the rest. Though, I felt it would be a wonder if Boris and I even paid attention to the rest of the ceremony.

My turn… I walked into the room, and the king was there to take me down the aisle knowing no one else could.

"Excited?" he whispered to me as I placed my arm over his and he patted it with his other hand gently.

"A bunch of things; excited, mainly nervous, with a bit of happiness and fright coursing through me." I said softly as he started walking me down. With faceless people all around us now, I could barely breathe, all these people watching… sort of.

"You'll be just fine, dear one. Don't you worry about it. You're going to have a wonderful life with Boris. Everyone knows how perfect you are for each other. Just as all the other couples are." The king, I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but having a life with Boris wasn't really what I was worried about. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but that sure wasn't it.

There Boris stood at the end of the aisle in front of Vivaldi, who watched us walk with enthusiasm and excitement. Boris winked at me and I smiled back, that was all the encouragement I needed to feel better.

Soon I stood beside him, Vivaldi and the king in front of us, giving us the vows to say to each other. I was putting my entire life in Boris' hands as he was putting his in mine.

He noticed my unease, and as Vivaldi spoke to the crowd before fully marrying us he said, "What are you nervous about?"

"I'm not quite sure… this whole ceremony has brought my nerves in a bunch. I just don't know what to do with it –"

"Once Vivaldi weds us… I promise you, Abby, everything will be all right."

I looked at him. He was so serious about it, and my nerves melted at his gaze. I nodded.

"I now pronounce this couple husband and wife!" Vivaldi announced, turning to Boris, "You may kiss the bride."

Boris swept me up into his arms, surprising me, but didn't give me a chance to even squeak before he brought his lips to mine and everyone in the large room clapped their congratulations. He pulled away and looked down at me with adoring eyes that told me he had full trust that our relationship would always be perfect and wonderful.


	18. Chapter 18

The many coaches waiting outside for us were a shock to my eyes, and when Boris dragged me right into one, I asked, "Where are we going?" We sat across from each other and when I looked around the coach, I wondered if there was a chance we might suffer claustrophobia, there were no windows in the thing.

"Wherever Vivaldi wishes us to go for our honeymoon," Boris said with a smile as the coach jerked forward and I knew we were on our way, "We'll be out, alone, for three weeks in whatever residence she wished to place us in. No one knows where these places are; hence the fact there's no windows in the coach, it's safe to say we'll be out somewhere and can't come back until our time alone together is over, and can't just stay there because I have duties."

"Wouldn't call that ordeal safe." I mumbled.

Boris couldn't help but laugh at my remark. "We'll be perfectly safe, Abby, Vivaldi knows what she's doing and these places are only for honeymoons, even sent our stuff there. For all the territories, these three weeks are a promise that there won't be any war while we're all out."

"But Vivaldi and the king are still there, they could take the chance of us all being gone to take the territories."

"They signed a petition. None of the other foreigners heard about it, but the old man and Dupre were very uncertain about it and made the king and Vivaldi promise not to do anything of the sorts you mean. Even said they would go on their own honeymoon, today's supposedly their anniversary so they decided to go celebrate as well."

"What about all the faceless people, what are they to be doing with no rules over them."

"Those with jobs as maids and soldiers and some-such as that have their orders, and the citizens won't do anything terrible."

I couldn't think of anything else to ask about it, everything was under control.

"Have I pacified you enough with that information or do you need more?" Boris asked amusedly.

"I think I'm good for now." I said.

"Good," he said, reaching across the space between us and pulling me right into his lap. "I don't want to have to think about anything or anyone but you for the rest of the free time so kindly given to us."

I smiled at him, "Only because I agreed to be bound to you for the rest of my life."

"Doesn't that please you?" he knew I was only humoring him and looked to be holding in a laugh.

"Oh, of course it does," I said with a smile that I could see made his eyes burn with desire as they looked at me. I looked down at his lips and couldn't help but just bend down and kiss them from impulse.

I don't know how much time passed since we first got in, but it was a little while before we felt the coach stop moving. Boris opened the door to see where we were and gaped.

Once he stepped out, I quickly followed and he helped me out, but not before I saw where we were to be staying. I found myself gaping as well, it was a _beautiful_ home, and seemed to fit in perfectly with the surrounding woods. It was white with a triangular roof and a chimney off the side, the front door perfectly symmetrical with the roof and many windows. It was a one floor, but that didn't shake how I felt about it, it was a nice home.

"My, this is nice." Boris said, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Vivaldi has good taste." I said, leaning against him.

"Or maybe she just knows what we like."

I shrugged. It could be possible, may not be possible.

We got settled in very quickly and I fixed us some dinner with vegetables and fish. Obviously, I was the only one to eat the vegetable, and Boris asked I eat the vegetables first and then eat the fish so I have that as an aftertaste rather than "icky veggies."

As I ate, Boris looked up at me with his yellow eyes, and there was something behind his gaze that I didn't quite understand. I'd never seen it before.

Once both of us finished, I made a move to stand up, but Boris put a hand up to say stop. He stood up, taking his dishes and mine, then said, "Stay here, I'll be right back." His voice even sounded a little deeper, I wondered what was up.

I waited where I was, hearing the water running as I guess Boris washed the dishes.

When he came back, his eyes seemed to promise the world as he picked me up out of the chair and carried me up to the bedroom. He set me down gently on the bed and sat down atop me, taking off his shirt which I had realized at that moment he'd never done in front of me before. Was never, ever shirtless in front of me.

"What are we –" I began to ask.

He bent down and kissed my lips gently, and I remembered from last time it meant to be quiet but it was softer this time, more sensual. Pulling away he said, "We're married, surely you know what it is we're doing."

When I didn't answer, he only kissed me, continuing what he'd started. I didn't object, and I didn't ask another question.


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning, I slowly opened my eyes to find Boris' face in front of mine, eyes still closed, sleeping away. I felt the strongest sense of contentment ever, just wanting to lay there and watch him sleep… which I could, for _three more weeks_. Who knew honeymoons could be so perfect besides those who'd already had them?

I wondered to myself how everyone else's honeymoon had gone. Making love the first night as Boris and I had? I'd have to wait until after to figure that out.

_Last night was sensational_, I thought to myself. And we could do it whenever we wanted now.

I'd never had a chance to see Boris asleep before, usually sleeping later than him because he'd have to go work early. Always woke me up, though, knowing if I slept all day I wouldn't fall asleep so quickly at night with him.

Moving my hand out from under the blankets, I brought it up and pet his head. His hair soft and velvety as a cat's usually was. It woke him up, though, any signs of movement did.

His eyes opened and he immediately smiled. "I'm not dreaming am I?" he asked.

"Can't say that you are. I must tell you I'm also under the impression we got married yesterday." I said, unable to help my own smile.

"And had the most amazing night, too." Boris said, cupping my cheeks and kissing me.

"So what are we doing today?" I asked after breakfast, putting my shoes on.

"You'll see," Boris said with a wicked grin.

"I hope you're not going to do something dangerous like you used to do around the castle guards." I admonished.

He waved his hand at me, "No, no, no, it's not like that, but it is a surprise."

"And when did you happen to find it?" I asked. "I was certain we were together this entire time, and I don't remember finding anything."

He chuckled softly. "Do you think Vivaldi didn't leave us with a few brochures of things to do here?"

"I don't know." I muttered, standing up.

Boris brought his arm around my shoulder and led me out the door. "Once we're close, I'll tell you to close your eyes."

"You have no idea how glad I am that you're not Ace at this moment." I said.

Boris laughed out loud. "What for? He _is_ your brother."

"Have you forgotten how easily he gets lost?" I asked him seriously.

"Not just easily, but always."

I snorted, trying to hold in my laughter.

It had been such a long time since I'd gone walking in the woods – a hike in my most favorite case. Used to be my family and I would go camping and hiking very often, until we moved to the city. No mountains or woods nearby, it was almost heartbreaking.

Now, just being back in many woods, and with Boris, made me feel at my happiest. This _would_ be a good honeymoon.

Soon, Boris placed his hand over my eyes and said excitedly, "Just follow my lead."

After a while I heard a sound that got louder the farther we walked, it was something I'd describe as _rumbling_. Once it became almost deafening, as though it were right next to me, Boris removed his hand.

I gasped at the sight before me. It was a _beautiful_ waterfall that shimmered in the sunlight and fell into a small body of water wide enough to host a pool party with many people.

"Boris!" I breathed, in wonderment at the scene around me.

He pulled me close and smiled down at me as I looked at the scene around us. "You like your surprise?" he asked humoredly.

"It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to."

"What are some others?"

"Everything in Wonderland… everything in this land – this world – is more beautiful than the one I was used to."

"Good," Boris said with a smile, "Because I'm not letting you leave."

I laughed, "I won't ever want to… besides, I'm dead in the other world."

"What?" Boris asked in shock.

I'd forgotten, I hadn't told him after Meggie told me about it. I explained to him what had happened when I got back and then what Meggie had told me about the aftermath. "So," I ended, "I'm dead in the other world and I don't know what could happen in trying to go back. Even if I wanted to and tried looking for ways to, I don't think there's any way around that."

Boris shrugged, "There might not be a way, but there's nothing terrible about it."

"No, I'd say it's only a small fact… a side-note."

Boris smiled down at me warmly… then it turned wicked. He pushed me right into the water, but he hadn't expected that in my surprise I'd hold on to him and we'd both fall down. Splash!

I stood up, wiping my hair out of my face and completely unable to stop laughing. Boris came up and instantly moved to get out of the water, but I grabbed his waist from behind and pulled him right back down with me. In both coming up again he stayed where he was, though very disgruntled.

"I admit, I like water when wearing a swimsuit and taking a bath, _not_ in my clothes." Boris said.

"Well, then you shouldn't have pushed me in," I said, splashing him with water, "I grab onto things when I'm surprised. That, and you were going to give me something you displeasure just as much as I do."

He splashed back, "Then _why_ are you smiling?"

Mostly I was laughing about having brought him into the water, and that he was a cat was the best part knowing most cats hated water. He just didn't like it in his clothes, like any normal person would. "Odd predicament isn't it? Both being in really wet clothes, and –"

He didn't let me finish, not that I knew what to add to what I was saying anyways. Boris had grabbed onto me, pulling me close and kissed me deeply. For the rest of the time, we took off our clothes and put them out on the rocks to dry while we went swimming around, mostly me sloshing through the water trying not to let him catch me. It was a very good day… very fun.


	20. Chapter 20

"No!" I mumbled into the pillow on a morning three weeks later. Boris was standing beside the bed asking me to get up, and I was just being stubborn.

"Come on, we have to go. The coach is waiting outside for us."

"Can't you ask him to come again later?"

"No, he has specific orders to come get us and if we refuse he'll have to go to more desperate measures of getting us to go."

"Like what?"

"You don't want to know."

I raised my head up and said with a sigh, "Fine." I stood up and saw our bags already packed up, Boris holding out my clothes for the day. I dressed as slowly as possible, taking in the surroundings around me. Was there a way we could come back here?

Boris chuckled at my attempt to slow things down and hurried me along by forcefully helping me. "I'm sorry, Abby, I want to stay too but we can't."

"I know… I wish we could have some way of visiting this place."

"Probably won't _ever_ see it again. I have my duties and besides, you don't want to be cut off from your friends now do you?"

"No, but if we could stay a little while longer…"

"No can do, the territory leaders agreed to the time span of being here. It's lucky it wasn't any less."

"I suppose not."

Boris led me out with our bags and we piled them in to the carriage, jumping in ourselves. I hadn't a chance to look back at the place before he closed the door and we were on our way back home.

I sighed and Boris held me close to him.

"We're still married even though we left that house. Still have each other."

"It's not that I'm worried about that, it's just that the time we spent there is special to me." I said.

"Me too," he whispered into my ear, "But we can have more special memories as the years go by. That house will be in our memories, of course, but so will other things we can't go back to. Like, say, our children growing up."

I finally smiled, "How many children do you want?"

"I didn't want to impose, but I'd much rather just have one child if it isn't too far out of your happiness. No more than one." Boris said.

I laughed, "Just one is perfectly fine."

After a week of being at home in the Amusement Park, I got back into the rhythm of everyday life and my honeymoon was left behind in my memories while I listened to my friends talk all about theirs. It was fun, and I even spent time with my sister.

One morning, I woke up feeling sick… later found out it was morning sickness. Boris was overjoyed, more than I ever thought he'd be.

I was excited, too, though the idea of a baby growing in me was a little shocking. Even knowing beforehand that that's the way it works, it seemed to me like it would be a very odd experience, which it was.

I'm not quite sure how I could've survived those nine months without Boris, Meggie, and my friends distracting me when they could. The fatter I got, the more nervous I became.

"You guys should stop telling me to calm down, I'm eight months pregnant!"

"Would you stop trying to calm us down when we're pregnant and say the same thing?" Lucy asked me pointedly.

"Yes, if you'd just stop at my bidding now." I said seriously.

Hati sighed, "Abby, come on, we –"

"I can hardly hit down on the grass with you guys, I have to stand in order to have our little get-togethers. It's a good thing Boris said he only wanted one child, otherwise I'd have to go through all this again."

"It's that nerve-wrecking?" Alicia asked nervously.

"Alicia!" Lucy said in shock. "Don't encourage her unhappiness."

I chuckled at that. "I'm not unhappy, just… nervous, uncertain, and scared."

"Don't worry about it." Lucy said. I'd been told that often enough, though.

Boris stood beside the bed later, not daring to even let me get up and out. I'd been contracting since morning and could hardly get myself out of bed. I asked him if I could at least walk around a while to stretch my legs, he was way against it. I could only sigh and lay there, my nerves running all over the place.

"What if you start giving birth, and you're standing around in the middle of the Amusement Park? No, I'm not allowing it." Boris said sternly.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing at his remark.

"You wouldn't find it so funny if it was happening to you."

"I know," I said, smiling at him, "Which why I'm grateful to be able to laugh at it, because you're so protective you won't _let_ it happen to me."


	21. Chapter 21

A baby girl was born. I looked down at her in my arms adoringly, Boris at my side looking awestruck as well. Marisol Airay was the name we gave her.

As she grew up, Boris and I were very happy with 'our little angel,' as Boris put it. I called her 'daddy's little angel' because of the way in which she was more attached to him than anything else.

Marisol had my hair color… but fur. Her cat ears, tail, and hair were a light blonde, as mine had been at her young age. Her eyes were the strange factor, her right eye was a bright blue (which Boris loved most being it was my eye color), and her left eye yellow like Boris'. Other than her appearance, she was the sweetest child.

At age four, Marisol came with me to hang around with my friends often, mostly sitting in my lap and listening to conversation.

"Guess what?" Lucy had asked the moment we got there, after everyone fawned over Marisol a bit.

No one answered. We all just smiled at her waiting for the news.

"Vivaldi had her baby."

All our mouths dropped open. "Really…?" I asked in surprise, "Meggie never told me this. I didn't know she was even pregnant."

"She wanted it to be a surprise to everyone. She's going to present him to everyone at around the end of the week, and she has decided to have a little discussion with Dupre and Gowland." Lucy sounded very proud of herself, knowing the information.

"What is it?" Hati asked.

"Ooh… I'm not allowed to tell. Peter made me promise!"

"We won't give off any air that we know about what the discussion's topic will be. Spit it out." Alicia said.

Lucy leaned in, and so did we. She whispered, "A declaration to end the war on each other."

We gaped at her.

"Exactly what I looked like!" Lucy said.

"No way! She's really ready to break off the whole thing?" I asked in shock.

Lucy nodded. "Knowing you have Marisol, and she has Simon – her son – she doesn't want any more war between places."

"Well, that's quite amazing." Alicia said.

Marisol jumped off of my lap at that moment to go chasing a butterfly. Her smile was joyous as she chased it around. Coming back to me, with a laugh, she asked, "What was _that_, mommy?"

"That was a butterfly. Very hard to catch." I told her with a smile, Marisol beamed at me.

"Wow," Marisol said, "A _butterfly_!"

She ran off again and went right after it. I watched her enjoy herself while my friends were all going "awwwww!"

"I want a daughter. Marisol is so precious, Abby." Lucy said. "I'm jealous."

I chuckled. "If or when you get a daughter, you'll love her so much; you'll believe she's better than anybody else's daughter."

"Is that how you feel now?" Hati asked.

"Just about… and I'm glad Boris and I had her first. We aren't going to have any more kids, one's enough."

"One's enough for everyone here. After the pain you went through, everyone only wants to do it once. Even through the pain, one child is enough, knowing how happy you are. Vivaldi is happy with Simon, she and the king love him so much." Lucy said.

"I'll bet she does." I said.

"Ah, but I want a daughter, too." Alicia said. "It would likely make it better for Pierce to have a daughter, and if she's anything like Marisol she'll be s_o cute_."

"So long as Marisol doesn't decide to go after your daughter as Boris does to Pierce."

"Right," Alicia said with a giggle, "We can reinforce for them not to go after each other."

"How are you going to do that when you live in the same area, and Marisol is a cat while your baby will be a dormouse?" Hati asked.

"Somehow." I answered for Alicia.

Later on, I had just put Marisol to bed when Boris lightly knocked on the door and came in. "Hey," he whispered, walking over and wrapping his arms around my waist, "How was she today?"

"Easily distracted," I said with a smile, "She enjoyed chasing a butterfly."

Boris chuckled. He kissed my neck and said, "The old man wanted me to come to this meeting with him. Vivaldi called it, so I have to come. He said I could bring you along."

"What about Marisol?" I asked.

"We'll just be in the next room over. If she needs anything, either one of us will be here in a jiffy."

"Me." I said.

"No, me."

"What makes you think so?"

"I'm faster."

"You want to race and see who is faster?" I dared.

"You're on… but for later." Boris said, trying so hard not to laugh. "We have a meeting now."

"Did they say what it's about?" I asked as we left the room. I still had to keep up the pretense that I didn't know anything about it.

The meeting was pretty straightforward. Lucy had been right when she said Vivaldi wanted to end the war. Blood Dupre and Mary Gowland agreed to it, knowing it would be hard for their children to live through any sort of war, so they made an agreement not to start war on each other for any reason until the kids had all grown up to a respectable age of twenty. It was a good deal.

When Boris and I went to bed, I left him to first check on Marisol… I hadn't expected to find her bed empty, a note left behind.

"_Boris_!" I screamed.

He zipped in to the room and asked, "What wro–"

I was in tears… hysterical really.

Boris went over to the note and read aloud: "I have your daughter. Don't think of… of… of trying to find her. She'll be gone from your lives forever and there's nothing you can do about it. Just guess who it is. Know from the deal struck you cannot wage war until everyone's child is at the age of twenty. This will be reason to be against me… you can tell your boss that."

What? It couldn't be possible! This wasn't happening, not to us… no. It shouldn't have happened. Why did I agree to leave Marisol alone? We could've taken her to the meeting; no one would've woken her up! There weren't any fights.

When Boris told Mary, he fumed about it. Mary just _knew_ it was one of the two territories.

Meggie tried comforting me, but I found it extremely difficult to believe any source of comfort from anyone. Marisol was gone and I'd never see her again, all because either Dupre or Vivaldi didn't want to stay away from war for very long, so they'd gone after my daughter.

I couldn't think straight. The next day, I wandered around the Amusement Park and looked at all the happy faceless people around me, blissfully unaware of any heartbreaking news. I hadn't slept all night, I didn't go to where I promised I'd meet up with my friends, I couldn't do anything.

Suddenly, Ace was wandering into the Amusement Park, and without Styrr.

"Hey!" he said with his bright, innocent smile. "What's up? You know it's better for you to start your day with a smile, rather than a frown! Won't be good for –"

"I can't," I said, causing him pause for a moment.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his mouth finally turning into a frown.

A tear ran down my face as I said, "M-Marisol's gone… someone kidnapped her, perhaps even killed her. Whoever they are, they left a note saying I'll never see her again."

"What?!" Ace asked, disbelieving. "You can't be serious."

"Deadly so… and now Mary Gowland is thinking either the queen or Dupre did it so that once everyone's children are at the age of twenty, they can instantly start fighting again. Apparently, war is important."

"You can't really believe that, can you?" Ace asked.

"I don't know what to believe, Ace. Marisol's gone and I don't know where she's been taken… Boris has gone looking, and told me to remain here."

"What's going to happen if he can't find her?" Ace asked, encasing me in his arms for a hug.

"Then I guess nothing… we go on pretending nothing's wrong, except that Marisol has been kidnapped. And… and still socialize with everyone – no problems – until war starts up again." I said.


	22. Chapter 22

**These next chapters are no longer in the point of view of Abby Airay… but you'll see soon enough who it is now…**

_16 years later…_

Picking pockets was always the easiest thing for me. Though I had to worry about what store owners would think in seeing me walk in and buy something, I could suffer through it to buy the supplies I needed. I was no longer a cute little child that people just gave free food to.

I made my way to my alley after pick-pocketing for the day, the most abandoned one that I'd been in for as far as I could remember, and mostly alone until my friend came in.

"How much did you get today?" he asked, standing up from where he'd sat.

"I don't know! _You're_ the counter." I said, handing it over to him. Ever since I'd met him, he counted the money and bought the food, I only picked it.

"Indeed I am."

"It's nearly sundown. Might I take my hood off _now_?" I asked, pointing to the hoody I wore.

"No, remember it's safer to wait until nightfall. No one comes down these alleys, and if they do they won't see you."

I groaned, "Fine, can't see my eyes either now can they?"

"Right… oh, and look, I was right, we have company now…"

I spun around to see a gang of boys coming around the corner, and crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, Matt, I know what they want and they ain't getting it."

The leader of the group snarled me, "I've seen what you're capable of doing, are you quite certain you don't want to join us? We always take care of our group members, much unlike others."

"Not sure I like being snarled at," I said good-humoredly, "Besides, I thought you wanted only _guys_ on your gang."

One of the boys in the background said, "You know none of us ain't like you, and –"

"Oh, is flattery how we're going to get me?" I asked. "Well you can kiss your invitation good bye. _I'm not joining_."

The leader was fuming, "If you don't join our gang, then –"

"Then… what? Are you thinking of forcing me? If so, very bad idea." I said with a chuckle.

Matt nodded, "You really don't want to get on her bad side."

"I'll take that as a mere warning," the leader said, taking out a knife and threateningly walking toward me, "You can't do anything dangerous."

I held my hands behind my back and let both of my knives fall from the sleeves and into my hands, since he wanted a knife fight. As he pursued me, I used one of the walls as a sort of lever to jump from and land on top of him.

"I have two knives pointed at your head," I said dangerously, "Drop your own."

He did so and Matt grabbed it, giving it to one of his gang members.

"Don't try that again. I'm not interested in joining any gangs." I jumped off and sat down next to the wall, taking a piece of bread and chewing on it. I waved to the gang members as they left.

"You never fail to amaze me." Matt said with a smile.

"Especially on first terms," I said with a laugh.

It was just getting dark, so I took my hood off of my head and took a look in the broken mirror we had in the alley. I never minded looking in the mirror, though I was different from others, but according to Matt still as pretty as any other girls.

I took a look at my ears, cat ears they were. In order to keep others from seeing them, I hid under a hood and had to keep them laid back, very hard work I might add. Night was the only time when I could stretch them and not strain them by keeping them in such a position for so long.

My tail came out on its own, away from having to curl up on the inside of my jeans. As the same color as my hair and ears, a light blonde, I had kept my hair growing long so that no one would notice I had no human ears.

What I was most proud of were my eyes. My right eye a shocking blue and my left a bright yellow… were anyone to look me in the eyes they thought my left eye had taken a hit from something and just changed.

"Marisol, get away from the mirror… sometimes I wonder if when you do that, you think bad things about your appearance."

Looking away from the mirror at Matt, I said, "I have a right to."

Matt rolled his eyes. He was handsome, had dark colored skin but not too dark. Compared to mine it looked sort of creamy, though I hadn't had the faintest idea that skin made much of a difference as to have names until he told me. Those gang members had all been white, and I had to notice that as they didn't try recruiting Matt… Matt was the only family I had.

During my life before him, I'd woken up in this alley remembering nothing. I had no idea about how I came to be there or if anyone would come take me away. I had given up all thoughts of a family coming to get me when eleven years passed, was still on my own, and had the characteristics of a cat. I didn't meet Matt until he was sixteen, a year after I gave up hope, and he'd run away from home. I hardly trusted him at first, not knowing people very well but still had the knowledge on how to fight and pick pockets to protect myself if he annoyed me (which was almost always). It took a year before I even showed him my ears and tail.

I walked over to him and sat down. "I wasn't thinking bad things about my appearances mister 'can't take a joke.'"

"Sure didn't sound like a joke."

Matt really was my only family. He cared for me and even worried during the day when I left to pick pockets for the both of us. Over-protective and kind, he was my best friend… even if he used some of the money I picked to pick up women and go in an abandoned house. I never asked what he did, but he always looked so content afterwards.

Tonight he asked me, and not for the first time, "Have you ever thought of liking me any closer than a friend?"

"You're already as close as you can get. You're family." I said.

"I can't be any closer?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'd much rather keep you as my family." I thought to myself, _I don't want that to end if we get into a lover's quarrel. He is my only family, I do not want to lose him._


	23. Chapter 23

"It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it?" I asked Matt on Sunday morning. Sunday was our day off, since most places were closed so no one would be out shopping.

He raised a brow, "I honestly don't understand your riddles, Marisol."

"Come on! Guess!" I said.

"Spiders?" he asked dubiously.

I laughed. "_Spiders_? Is that _really_ your guess?"

"Yes, now tell what it_ really_ is."

"A human, man or woman. Baby is the morning, the start of life, it crawls on all four. As an adult at noon it walks on two. And in the evening as an elder, on two with a cane. Get it now?"

He scoffed, "Your riddles are unfair."

"All riddles are like the ones I say!" I said. "Otherwise they'd be too easy and much less fun."

"I think I'd like to be able to understand them rather than be confused and learn the answer is way far off from my own guess."

"You hardly try!" I said, lightly punching his arm.

He laughed. "Was that a real punch or a fake one? If it was real, you punch like a girl."

"It was fake. What, do you _want _me to punch you like a man? I can if you really want me to."

"No thanks," he said between laughs, "See my face? I like it this way."

"I can punch other parts of your body besides your face." I said.

"Still, please don't," he said.

"When you stop laughing, I'll consider it." I said seriously.

He stopped laughing, but only smiled. "I'll just go." He took a bit of money and hopped on out of there.

I rolled my eyes. "Women stalker," I muttered and curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

A woman… with hair like mine but no cat characteristics held me in her lap and smiled down at me. "Marisol," she said sweetly, "Marisol, come home."

_Crunch!_ I instantly woke up spun around to see a shadowed figure with a gun slowly walking toward me. It was around midnight, a whole day since Matt had gone out and I'd had so short a dream… but _who_ was this person here?

"Who are _you_?" I asked, bringing my hands behind my back and dropping two guns into my hand.

"Someone who should've killed you long ago," the figure said menacingly, it sounded like a woman, "You should've been dead sixteen years ago when I slammed your head in, why did you survive? How did you survive?"

"Survived quite well on my own… I could help myself."

"Good… then no one will miss you when I kill you."

"Ah, that's a mistake," I said, pulling out my guns and shooting both at the hand carrying the gun, and she dropped it. "Don't even try to pick it up."

"Marisol!" I heard Matt come up behind me. "What are you doing?"

"This person was going to kill me! Why else would I have my gun out?" I asked him. "Her gun is on the floor in front of her… and don't even go pick it up, she's too close to it."

The woman turned and ran right then.

I jumped up and ran after her, Matt following closely behind me. Where was she running to?

We reached a park where, after a while, the woman jumped to the ground and disappeared. There wasn't a hill, was there? Matt and I continued running until I almost fell into the thing.

It was a big hole in the ground and was slowly getting smaller. I didn't keep away from it though. I put my guns away and studied the hole, wondering where it led to.

When Matt finally caught up to me, he wasn't able to slow down and hit right into me. Then down we fell into oblivion.


	24. Chapter 24

"Marisol… _Marisol_… _Marisol_!" Matt shook me awake.

I sat up and looked around. We were in a clearing surrounded by trees, and the air was fresher than I was used to. It was daytime… did they really sleep that long? "What _is_ this place?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it… I thought that hole would bring us to our deaths."

"But it led us here instead."

"Yes, now put your hood up and your tail away, we should go search around. There must be more people around here if that woman is."

I did as he said and added with a nod, "They might want to kill me as she did… at least with the hood I'm not familiar, so you should put yours on, too."

He agreed.

We searched around a while, not sure where to go in the surrounding of trees. It didn't sound as though there were any settlements around us…

"I don't like this," I said, "We didn't even see her face, and so we won't be able to point her out if we find any civilization."

"Suppose not. But we're not going to get any farther today."

"You're right. We're too lost." I said, sitting down.

"Not that we should just stop anywhere," Matt said with a chuckle, "We might want to try going up a tree if we're to stay safe."

"Or just stay awake, it's still day time."

Although, at the very moment I said that, the sky above us suddenly became dark. Was time different here?

"Well, that was random." I said.

"Really? I thought it was pretty normal for the sky to suddenly go to night from day. How silly of me."

"Don't annoy with your sarcasm, I don't need it." I said.

He laughed, "It's the only way for me to have fun in life. You don't take sarcasm away from me, and I won't take your love of telling riddles away."

"All right," I smiled, "I can deal with that."

"You better."

I laughed. "Hm… should we look around for a tree we can _both_ climb and be safe in?"

"Sure, but don't stray too far."

"Of course, master." I said, standing up.

He raised a brow. "I think I like the sound of 'master.'"

"Yeah, well don't get used to it."

Looking around wasn't much, I still had no idea where we were and all of the trees looked similar. I could climb any of them, but it was just that Matt could only climb them if they had strong and big enough limbs for him to hold onto. These trees all looked skinny and had hardly any branches near the bottom.

I sighed and went to go look for Matt to tell him I didn't find anything. Thing was, I wasn't sure which direction he went.

"Matt?!" I called.

"Help!" he called back.

I instantly took out my gun and followed where the sound of his voice was. "Where are you?" I asked.

"Here," a voice said, and it wasn't Matt's. It _was_ behind me though.

I spun around to find a man in a cloak, clumped with dirt and blood and wearing a mask. Behind him, Matt was held by two people wearing the same things… a woman, and a young boy no older than me.

The man had a sword and only looked at me curiously.

"What do you want with us?" I asked.

"What do we want with you?" he repeated with a smile, "What are you doing in these parts? I can't say I've ever met your friend before, his face isn't familiar."

Indeed, Matt's hood had fallen off of his head and he looked quite terrified.

"We didn't come here on purpose. Someone came to kill me and we went after her… she jumped down the hole that came here."

"Who would go after you?" he asked curiously, dangerously stepping toward me.

"I don't know… I didn't see her face." I said, holding my gun out in front of me. "And don't advance _any_ further."

"Why not?" he asked good-humoredly.

"Because I don't trust you, now will you please let my friend go?"

"I want to see what you look like first… surely you'd understand my curiosity –"

"No, I don't… I can't see your face."

"But you are not from here."

I scoffed, "That's no reason. We're not any danger to you; we don't even know where we are."

He smiled, "Neither do we."

"But… you live here."

"That's no reason."

I rolled my eyes, an action he didn't see. "_Let him go_."

"Actually, I'd like to see what Vivaldi thinks of you."

I shot my gun and he deflected it with his sword, almost hitting me in the head before I ducked. "Darn it." I muttered.

"Guns aren't going to work in this, darling."

"I can _see_ that, thank you very much…" I said, putting my gun away and taking out my knives. "Perhaps fighting would work."

"If I kill you, it's not my fault," he pointed out, "I'm the best fighter in this land."

"And I'm the best in mine." I said.

"No!" Matt said, trying to move, but the woman and boy pushed him down.

"Ace, are you certain you want to hurt her before questioning?" the woman asked.

"The only other person who I haven't beaten in a fight is Gray, that's always a stalemate with us. I'd like to see how she does."

"It's the same with me, you can't beat me."

"But that's different… I taught you everything I know."

I was the first to attack, startling the man, Ace. "First things first," I said, "Always be on your guard. No distractions."

He smiled, "How reassuring."

He then took a stab at me, and I flipped right over him and grabbed the mask off of his head. The face surprised me… he was familiar in some strange way. His light brown hair, the eyes.

"Very good." Ace said approvingly.

"I try." I said drily.

He moved as though to slice my head off, and I instantly jumped up a tree.

"She's not playing to the rules, Styrr." Ace said to his wife.

"Might I try, father?" the boy asked, finally speaking.

"A later time, son, she's far too advanced."

"How heart-warming," I said, "Anyone back home would say that about me… but yet they don't normally last this long."

"Do you kill them the moment they attack?" he asked with humor behind his voice.

"Of course not, that's _barbaric_," I said in shock, "The moment I do that would be the moment I'm sent to jail."

"Not here, it's not." Ace said.

I thought quickly, wondering if there _was_ a way I could get out of this ditch. "Might I suggest a bargain with you that won't involve us trying to kill each other?"

"Bargain away."

"Do you like riddles?"

"Me? Heavens no. My sister's husband, Boris, does though. He excels at them. You can't beat him at a game of riddles. Though, I don't think I should go so far with the two of you, you might escape… and besides, he'd surprise you." Ace said.

"Surprise us how?" I asked.

"This isn't your normal world, young…"

"I'm not telling you my name."

He chuckled, "Of course not. Well, there are normal people, faceless people, and animalistic people. Boris is animalistic."

My heart jumped a moment there. "Animalistic… how?"

"Animal characteristics. Rabbits, hares, cats –"

"Really?" I asked happily.

He looked surprised at my outburst.

I put my knives away and said, "I'll come down and explain something to you if you just put your sword away."

He paused a moment, and then did so.

Jumping down, I looked Ace in the face and pulled my hood down. "My name is Marisol… do I come from here?"


	25. Chapter 25

Ace just looked at me in shock. His wife, Styrr, took her mask off and looked at me with the same shock, as though I were a ghost. Their son was the only one undaunted by my appearance.

"Marisol?" he asked, "_Is_ that really you?"

I nodded, "I… have no memory of this place, but I guess I come from here since I have… cat traits."

Ace smiled and caught me in a hug. "It _is_ you." In the moment, the time changed from night to afternoon, surprising me again. What was wrong with the time here?

"What, do you remember me having such a personality?"

He chuckled. "Last time I remember, you were four."

Styrr came over and gave me a hug as well, it was their son and Matt that was both confused about the whole thing.

"Marisol?" Matt asked, "I'm so confused?"

I laughed, and broke off the hug to walk toward him. "I believe I've found out where I come from."

"Umm…" he said, and with a sigh, "Good. Great. Wonderful."

"You all right?"

"I will be as long as we aren't attacked again. You gave me a heart attack in fighting him."

Chuckling I said, "Think of me being held down by two people, which was much worse. You were weaponless."

"This is why I'd like some use of one of your weapons since your knives seem to work very well."

I nodded with a smile and gave him my gun.

"So," I said, "Where exactly are we, Ace?"

"I don't know."

"At all?" I asked.

"Nope."

"We're hopeless in our memory," the boy said, "Everyone we know knows it's useless with us."

Ace laughed. "Marisol, this is your cousin, Connor."

That was when Connor somehow understood something, "Oh! Pleased to meet you."

"You too… so, Ace, you're my –"

"Uncle, yes," he said with a smile, "Your mother is my sister. In which case, let's go bring you to your parents. They'll be most delighted."

"Certainly," Matt said, "Until they realize what they'll have to live with."

I punched his arm, "Honestly, you didn't _have_ to live with me if you found me so annoying."

"Where would I go? And besides, we'd both be bored without each other."

I nodded, "Maybe."

The three people took off their cloaks, and I saw the reason for their swords. They were knights.

"Knights of Heart Castle," Styrr clarified, "And much better than the guards."

_They live in Heart Castle_, I thought, to try remembering the different places. "Where do my parents live?"

"At the Amusement Park." Connor said.

Matt raised a brow at me, "Congratulations, you were born in a place more interesting than me."

I scowled at him, "Don't make this whole thing _funny_."

"Where were you born?" Connor asked, making conversation.

"In a hospital."

"No wonder you said 'more interesting.' You must hate hospitals, like Nightmare and his daughter, Celine."

"You can just say 'his daughter,' Connor, they don't need to learn everyone's name yet." Ace said.

Connor blushed slightly, "Yes, father."

"So, you really have no memory of this place?" Ace asked me, bringing me to walk ahead of the other three. Perhaps he felt responsible so as to get to know me as he once did, and maybe to get me home safe and sound. It was as though we weren't at each other's throats some time ago.

"I admit, when I saw your face you looked familiar. But no, I only remember the world I grew up in. I remember down to when I was four and woke up in an alley that I've lived in."

"When did Matt come in?"

"About four years ago. He ran away from home and has been with me since then. He's been the closest person I've had to family till now."

"Your best friend… now I can see your anger at me when we had him down on the ground, even though we did notice you two attacking each other verbally." Ace said with humor in his eyes.

"It's how we get along. There's no fun unless we annoy each other."

"Oh, you'll have too much fun here to have to annoy each other… though he is a foreigner, I'm telling you he won't last long."

"Why not?" I asked in confusion.

"Any of the foreigners who've come here are different from us. They need something that can keep them alive and accounted for… my wife, Styrr, was one, and your mother was, too."

"This world confuses me," I said, "How can my mom be your sister if she isn't native to this world, but you are?"

"For some foreigners, but not all of them, there are some of us Role-holders who look similar to those they lived with in real life. I look as her brother, and therefore I am in this world, as she decided to stay here with your dad."

"I see."

"Her real sister did come to this land however, married your dad's boss. She's my sister, too, in that matter, though we don't really talk as much."

"You should," I said, "I've lived too many years by myself, I was lucky when Matt came along that I was still able to be sociable."

"That's not good."

"Perhaps not… did any of you know where I'd gone?"

"When you disappeared sixteen years ago, your parents feared the worst. None of us dreamed that you'd be taken to the foreign world… your dad's boss, in other words your uncle, thought that one of the other territories had taken you so as to start war again."

"Did it start again?"

"Actually, the three lands signed a treaty that there will be no war until all our children turned the age of twenty. You are the oldest, so whoever wanted war as soon as possible took you… my son, Connor, is fifteen, still five years to go, that's the youngest age since everyone wanted a child. War would come soon if the people of the Amusement Park never found you, though it seems I have."

"You don't want war do you?" I asked, suddenly wary. If he did, he might decide to capture me himself, no matter that I was his sister's daughter.

"Heavens no!" he said, "And if I did, I wouldn't choose you to capture and hide… or perhaps kill. I could _never_ do that to my sister. Others might, I don't know… Ah, here we are."

We came up to a building, but it didn't look like an amusement park of any sort.

A young girl with long, blue hair came out. "It's about time, Ace!" she said, "Father's angry you've taken a dozen time periods to get clocks. He's running out of some to repair."

"I've got more than enough clocks to placate him Deja, thank you." Ace said.

Deja saw Connor and grabbed his hand, "Celine wants to talk to you."

Connor looked excited.

Ace and Styrr walked in and we saw a tall man with hair like Deja's, the woman in the room with him had long black hair. Deja had her face, so I supposed this was her mother. The man was angry.

"Hello, Julius, Skylar, good to see you." Ace said, placing a bag on the table and acting like all was well.

"You're _late_, Ace." Julius snarled.

Ace was undaunted, "I know, but I've got more than enough clocks to pay up for all that lost time."

I snorted. He was giving him more clocks for 'lost time.' It was amusing.

Julius looked at me with much surprise, and then said, "You have Marisol?"

"Does _everyone_ know me?" I asked aloud.

"Seems like." Matt whispered in my ear.

"I found her and her foreign friend in the woods," Ace said, explaining what happened. He ended with, "It's a good thing she thought to ask me about riddles, otherwise I'd have never mentioned Boris and we'd probably still be fighting in the woods right now."

"And if you didn't get lost so much, we wouldn't be here; we'd already be at the Amusement Park." I said.

"You don't think I meant for this to happen?" Ace asked me with a big, innocent smile. "You should be glad we came here first, any longer and I think Julius would've come out to kill me."

"We're glad you're here, Marisol," Skylar said, "And speaking of foreign…"

"Right," Julius said, taking a vial out of his pocket and handing it to Matt.

"What's this?" Matt asked, taking it in his hands.

"It'll help you survive here," Ace said, "Since you aren't native to these parts, you're a part of the game. You need to drink from that vial, and then can't leave until you've talked to all the Role-holders."

"Okay…" Matt said slowly, "How will I know who's a Role-holder and who's not."

"You'll know," Julius said, "Ace and I are Role-holders, that's a start."

Matt drunk from the vial, every last drop. When he stopped, he looked at it and there was still some in it. He moved to drink from it again, but Ace stopped him.

"It's filled from having conversed with me and Julius. It'll fill itself up the more Role-holders you talk to."

"Why is there such a difference from Role-holders and me? If there is one…" I said.

"You are born from a Role-holder and a foreigner, Marisol," Julius said, "My daughter, Deja, is one, as is Celine and Amari, Nightmare's daughter and Gray's daughter… Role-holder's hearts are clocks, a foreigner's is regular."

"Then what heart do I have?" I asked.

"Both." Julius said simply.


	26. Chapter 26

Before I could really think about that, two men actually walked into the room and were bickering nonstop.

"Shut _up_, Gray, I'm not going to the hospital!" the man with an eye-patch and short grey hair. Though he had such silvery, gray hair, he still looked pretty young, not an old man.

The man, Gray, had short raven hair and a lizard tattoo on his neck. He scoffed at the other man. "Nightmare, you're always sick, and even Ivy asks you to go to the hospital. It's a surprise that you even say no to her on that."

"She may get angry with me for not going and threaten to never talk to me if I don't go, but she won't go through with it… for Celine's sake." Nightmare retorted, sounding more hopeful than absolutely sure.

"I doubt it. Pretty soon, she'll kick you out of your own room and make you sleep on the couch."

"She wouldn't!"

"She would," another girl piped in, going to stand next to Gray. She had turquoise colored eyes and long, dark blonde hair. She was pretty.

"_Really_, Alex?" Nightmare asked.

"Honestly I think fights here are stranger than in the other world." I noted.

All three stopped to look at me.

"Hi." I said.

Again more surprises on seeing my face. How many times was I going to have to work through that in this land? I was more recognizable than these people were to me.

"Okay, I notice everyone can recognize my face. I must obviously look like my parents in order for you to just _know_ it."

"Actually your face hardly scratches it," Ace said, "Your nose is as your mom's, your chin your dad's. But what it really is, is your blonde hair and the cat ears and the tail. Only your dad is a cat in this land."

"Not only that," Styrr added, "But your eyes. One blue as Abby's and one yellow as Boris'."

I looked at Ace, "You said my dad's name earlier, that he was really good at riddles."

"It seems that you inherited that from him as well." Ace said.

"What of her sarcasm?" Matt asked.

"That I learned from _you_." I said seriously, though Matt chuckled at me.

"Yeah, never heard sarcasm from your parents." Ace said.

"Abby has quite a sense of humor, though." Nightmare said with a chuckle.

"And don't you dare tell any of that to Marisol. She'll learn it firsthand." Styrr said.

Nightmare shrugged with a smile. "Who gets to hear the sense of humor of a child's parents first? The person tells the child or the child hears it from the parents?"

"What sort of question is that?" a woman asked coming into the room. I had to assume it was his wife, Ivy, from the way he was instantly silenced by her entrance. She had long black hair like Skylar, but it was very curly. "The child learns it themselves of course."

"You only feel compelled to tell Marisol that –"

"Do I, Nightmare, do I?" she asked him dangerously. "I think I feel more compelled to ignore you. Celine _still_ won't go to a hospital for shots, and it's your whole bloody _fault_. She's nearly fifteen, and you're nearly forty!"

We finally left, once Ivy had thrown all of Nightmare's stuff out of their room and into his office, to go to the Amusement Park. Ace and Styrr let their son, Connor stay behind at what they called Clover Tower.

I was so anxious about what would happen at the Amusement Park that I had no idea what to do to keep my thoughts busy.

"You good?" Matt asked me.

"No… I'm done for with nerves."

He put an arm around my shoulder and said, "Don't worry. All these people have given you a very warm welcome, so I don't doubt your own parents will… especially given that Ace is your uncle."

"But remember, I got into a fight with him the moment we bumped into him." I said.

"He didn't know who you were." Matt said.

"I know," I said, chuckling, "Still."

"What's this?" Matt asked, looking up.

It was a mansion that was before us. There were two adult twins on either side of the gate, with what appeared to be their sons.

"Doesn't look like an amusement park." Matt said.

"Perhaps a haunted house?" I asked him with a smile.

"How amusing."

"Hey, Dee, Dum, what are you doing here?" Ace asked good-naturedly.

"You're lost, Ace, when are you going to realize the difference between territories?" the red-eyed one asked in annoyance.

"Hmm… may I say never?"

"Maybe you ought to take Abby with you everywhere; she has a much better sense of direction."

"And you know she hardly leaves the Amusement Park."

"Your mother?" Matt muttered to me.

"Guess so." I said softly.

"_Marisol_?" the twins asked, looking at me. I only just realized one was red-eyed and the other blue-eyed, it was just the same face.

"Can't wait to meet your parents if everyone recognizes you so well." Matt said. "I'll be sure to notice if you have their characteristics."

"Shut up." I said, extracting a chuckle from him.

"_How _did you find her?" the blue-eyed one asked.

"In the forest." Ace said simply. "Dee, if you'd met her the way I did in the forest, you'd probably attack her and her friend."

"Not if I saw her face." Dee, the blue-eyed one, said. "Dum wouldn't either."

Dum, the red-eyed one, shook his head. "Especially not me, she's my niece too, Ace. I don't know how _you_ could've attacked her."

"Another uncle?" Matt asked.

I glared at him "Well, how much family do _you_ have?"

He sighed, "More than what we've met of yours."

"Right, so keep your mouth shut," I said, and then turned to Dum, "You're my uncle, too?"

He nodded. "Your father is my wife's sister, in which case Dee's your uncle too since we're twins." A chuckle came out of that statement. "You might just see why, she gave her hair color to Xavier here." Dum had pointed to his son, who had his red eyes which matched scarily with his pink hair.

"My dad has pink hair?" I asked interestedly.

"Indeed." Dum said. "As does Sakura, you can't deny that their related because of the pink hair. Boris thought you would have his hair color, but Abby's won over."

I smiled.

A girl with brown, wavy hair, the ears of a hare, and violet eyes came out of the mansion. This made me feel worlds better actually seeing someone with animal characteristics, first one I'd ever seen.

She only stopped to look on the guards and then ran back in the house.

"Harper," Xavier said, "Just watching us for her rabbit father to make sure we're working. Perhaps even making sure Isaiah and I don't run off."

Dee's son, I guess Isaiah, flushed crimson. Did every kid like somebody here? Connor seemed to like Celine, and Isaiah seemed to like Harper. I didn't even know how I could notice such things when I hadn't known such a thing myself.

I elbowed Matt at the mere sound of a snort he gave in seeing Isaiah's face.

"Harper's a hare… I don't think a rabbit has a hare for a daughter."

The twins groaned, "You're just like Abby. She's the only one who ever said Elliot isn't a rabbit, but a hare."

"Like mother like daughter." Matt said.

"Yeah." I said softly.

"Can you work a map, Marisol?" Dum asked, taking one out of it his pocket.

"I-I can't read." I said.

"I can," Matt said, and Dum gave him the map.

While Matt studied it, Ace asked, "Why can't you read?"

"I've lived on the streets for sixteen years, twelve of those I was all alone."

"And for the other four, she's had to live with me trying to talk her into letting me teach her how to read and write." Matt said, still looking the map over.

Matt starting walking away, and Ace, Styrr and I followed him, leaving behind the mansion.

"You know, your mother's very smart," Ace said, "She'll likely teach you how to read and write. You'll probably enjoy reading stories just as much as she does."

"More likely find books of riddles." I said. Matt laughed upon hearing that.


	27. Chapter 27

"Well, this _is_ quite an amusement park." Matt noted, bringing the map down from his face to look at the site ahead of us. The place was huge, and there were many, many rides that I watched move quickly by with screaming people riding it.

We walked in with the surprised Amusement Park people who allowed us in. I'd seen the many faceless people already, and for some reason it gave me no shock. As if I was used to it.

"You want to get on a ride _now_?" I asked him, "While I talk to my parents?"

"Nah, I'd rather wait until you can come on one with me. You've never gone on any such thing in your life. I'd like to be there for your first time." Matt said.

"Waiting to hear me scream my head off? No, thank you." I said.

Matt laughed, "Perhaps," he said slowly, "Since I've never heard you scream."

"And nor will I!"

"I don't believe you will either." Ace said matter-of-fact. "Your parents can take the most dangerous ride or adventure and never let out a squeal."

Matt's eyes widened. "Well, _there's_ where your sense of adventure came from!"

"Have you been on any adventures _with_ them?" I asked, excited for some sort of story.

Ace smiled, "Was on one of sorts with your mother, quite funny it was, too. We got lost and found ourselves in the forest of two most feared men… this was before they got married and each had a kid. Most women cower in fear of them, now Abby had a fear from what she'd heard of them, but the way in which she stood up against them was quite memorable."

"Did she take a knife and threaten to cut them with it?" Matt asked.

Ace laughed at him. "No, neither Boris nor I would've allowed her to do such a thing! She'd never handled a knife or a gun in her life… but she definitely had stuff to tell them."

I smiled, "And my dad?"

"In danger at every corner, he is. Can't help himself." Ace said.

A man with red hair in a braid and wearing a big yellow coat came up to us with a violin, very merry looking. But then he saw me and was in deep shock for a second, then looked at Ace and Styrr angrily. "It was _you_!" he said, and his violin turned into a gun.

I took out my own guns and stepped between him and Ace. "Ace did nothing," I said.

He looked at me in surprise. "Marisol –"

I interrupted him and said, "Might we get into a room with my parents before I explain everything?"

"Yes… yes, of course!" the man said. "Luckily both your parents are here in their room."

"First, let's both agree to get rid of our guns." I said.

"You wouldn't shoot your own uncle?" he asked uncertainly. That surprised me as well, but I couldn't add anything anyways.

"Certainly don't want to get on her bad side Gowland," Ace said with a chuckle, "She's good with knives, too, and could've cut me up earlier."

"Not with how you move." I said.

We both put our guns away, though technically his was still out considering it was the violin, but I let it pass. I wanted to see my parents so badly, I would've gladly agreed go to see them with my hands tied behind my back.

Gowland stopped before a door and knocked lightly.

Ace threw my hood over my hood, and before I could protest said, "For good measure of the surprise. And keep your tail hidden, too."

"Who is it?" a male voice asked.

"Gowland, Ace, Styrr, and some new people." Gowland said.

The door opened and two people stood there, the man with his arm around the woman. The woman was as I'd dreamed the night before, the blonde hair and blue eyes. The man was new, a sort of punk-like man. He had pink hair, cat ears, and tail, and the yellow eyes.

They walked out and my mother said, "Hello," to Matt and me, "Nice to meet you, I'm Abby."

"I'm Boris," the man said, who then turned to Ace, "I thought no more foreigners were coming to this land."

"Don't ask me how it happened," Ace said, bring his hands up, "I only found them in the woods. Quite a fight the girl in the hood put with me when Styrr and Connor caught onto her friend here, she's skilled with guns and knives."

"Why would you attack foreigners?" Gowland asked.

"Well, Vivaldi's decree that it wasn't likely for more foreigners to come was full behind my actions. To take them to her in other words if only they hadn't put up so much of a fight."

"Why did you bring them here then?" my mother asked, studying me carefully though not seeing my face.

"Thing was, she decided to offer an alternative way as to how to win. Said she's good with riddles, so I told her about you Boris and she accepted the challenge. Believes she's quite good at them." Ace said with a smile.

"Really?" my father asked. My own father! He nodded over to a pair of chairs and said, "We'll do it sitting down."

I sat down across from him and said, "You may give the first riddle."

He smiled knowingly, as though certain I was not going to get his riddles. "You'll have this six-letter word at night and if you remove the first letter it denotes the top, such as on a train. What is the word?"

I thought about it, if it were something that you have every day at night, then… "Supper… remove the s it is upper."

Boris gave a smile, "Correct. Your turn."

I thought about all the men around me, how man and wife were. I said, "What does every man have, some longer or shorter than others and they give it to their wife when they get married?"

Boris gave a big smile, "Easy, a last name."

I nodded.

Boris looked briefly between Matt and me once, then to Abby fully with a caring smile, and then asked me, "Everyone needs this, it's great with an 'r' on the end but you're sad when the first letter goes away. What is it?"

I blushed, but was glad that I had the hood over my head at the moment that no one could notice. "Love… with an 'r' on the end, lover, it's great… when the l leaves, you're sad the love is over."

Boris nodded as well.

I was a little impatient myself and pointed at Abby… my mother. "She's a six letter word. If she did not exist, I wouldn't either. With the first letter omitted, she's an alternative. The last three letters are feminine. The first four letters make an insect. Who is she to me?"

Boris looked at me with surprise and curiosity. "With most of what you've said, the answer is mother… but to you…"

Abby went to stand next to him and stared at me, I could see a faint ray of hope in her eyes.

I removed the hood from my face, and looked them both in the face. I was at a loss for words because now that they could see who I was, they looked extremely excited and happy that I was there. The best I said, which was the deciding factor about me, was, "I'm home."


	28. Chapter 28

I was caught in more hugs from my parents, and it had a much homier feeling than it had with Ace and Styrr. My mother was crying with joy. It was amazing how much happiness came out of a revealing, and it made me feel like a brand new thing, instead of the original old and run-down one.

At the end of all the greetings, which I feel must've taken at least half-an-hour to calm down, I had to explain everything that happened to me. Of course, that I didn't know who had kidnapped and left me on the streets was a big matter, but they didn't stress it further.

My parents were very grateful to Matt, though, for having stayed with me for four years on the streets and keeping me safe.

"It was nothing, really." Matt said, trying hard to brush off all the attention.

I was in my own emotional state, almost not willing to believe that this all wasn't just a dream. It wasn't… that much was certain, and it was thrilling.

"The night you disappeared, we were distraught," mom said to me, "It was mostly us who took care of you, and it was a very rare thing when we let you in the care of the servants. We only left you alone in bed that night to go to a very important meeting just next door to your room, but we should've realized that you were asleep so anyone could take you… oh, we were angry with ourselves that night."

"If only I could help you out in knowing who it is. Though, out of curiosity, what could happen to them?"

"We'd send them to Black Joker, the prison guard… or call him over." Gowland said.

"By the by, where's Meggie?" mom asked.

"Oh! I'll go get her. Don't know why I forgot she'd like to meet her niece, too."

"His wife, my sister," mom clarified, "Sort of a lucky thing we live in the same area as each other."

My ears suddenly perked up, I heard someone running towards us. It was a boy, a little younger than I, with brownish-orange hair, mouse ears, and a tail. Dormice… oh, bother, what was wrong with me?

He noticed me and almost ran before saying, "Abby, my mom wanted me to tell you to meet her, Hati, and Lucy by the tree."

"Tell her I'll be there straight away, I have good news," she said.

He pointed to me, "Her?"

"Wade, it's rude to point," my mom scolded, "She'll behave herself around you."

"I'll try…" I said softly, which Wade heard and scuttled away as fast as possible.

My dad laughed, "Abby, she's a cat, she has the same impulses I do. In which case, you'll have two problems on your hand… me chasing Pierce, and her chasing his son. You can't stop it."

"At least there's the reason for why she chased mice back in the other world." Matt noted.

I scowled at him, "At the time you first saw me do that, you hadn't seen my ears yet."

"Good thing you showed me the ears, too, elsewise I'd be living with you thinking, 'I'm with a crazy person.' Might have even insisted you go to an asylum."

I gasped, "You _wouldn't_!"

"No," he said with a chuckle, "I wouldn't, because at that point I'd be forced to go back to my parents."

"Ooh," I said angrily, and then swatted at him, "You're despicable."

He gave a mock bow, "I'll cherish the name."

When mom left, dad decided to show us to my old room. It was small, but it was very homey. I liked it.

The memory suddenly kicked in… I was in the crib, waking up after knowing my parents had left the room. I moved to get out of the crib, wanting to explore places without having any adults at my side watching me. I'd moved too slowly, because one of the faceless servants walked in.

"Oh, Marisol," the faceless servant chided, a female voice, "You should be asleep right now."

"_No_, I don't _want_ to sleep!" I said rebelliously.

The servant walked in fully, had a club in hand. "Do you want to go on a little adventure, dear?" she asked dangerously. I hadn't taken a hint at how dangerous she sounded; the mention of 'adventure' actually had me excited.

"Yes, yes I do!"

"Good," she said, raising the club over her head, "Then enjoy this."

I gasped. Matt knelt down before me, his hands encasing mine and worry in his face. I was on the ground and no longer age four. Looking up, my dad had the same worry.

"How many female servants here had access to my room?" I asked.

"Only one…" dad said slowly.

I explained the memory to him. And when I described her, he said, "Holy everlasting hell," and ran out of the room. Matt and I ran after him, right on his tail as he zipped through the Amusement Park.

We stopped before a servant who was facing the other direction talking to someone, when they ran away in fright of us, the servant slowly turned around.

It was her. Even though she was faceless, I could see her face contort in anger and fear. Dad had his gun out, pointed it at her face. "Why?" he asked.

She sighed, "Master, can you realize my actions were only for the good of the Amusement Park people? For the good of Master Gowland? She was the first born, and so the first one to turn twenty… once all the other children of the other territories turned twenty, we would have the good reason to start war with them for the life of Marisol."

"War is something all territories agreed we didn't like… _why_ would you _want_ it?"

"See? You wouldn't understand!" the servant buried her face in her hands for a means to cry. But it was fake, even I could see that, especially the moment she took her gun out to point it at my dad.

I was quicker, taking out my guns and stepping in between them.

The woman laughed, "I may not have killed you all those years ago with a club, but I can still do it quite well with a gunshot to the head."

"Do you have knives?" I asked sweetly.

"No."

"Then guns it seems we'll stick with. I shot at my own uncle, of course missing him, but believe me I can shoot you _much_ more easily."

The woman hesitated, and then ran.

Before Matt and my dad could follow me, I said, "You might want to get the prison guard!" and followed the woman closely.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!" the woman called out at me.

"Like a child." I muttered under my breath. I shot one of my guns at her leg; she fell and then took a shot at me. I dodged it, just barely, by sliding down on the ground. But, the moment I stood up, she took a shot that I felt hit near my chest.

I cringed, and fell.

Some time passed, it felt like forever as I felt the pain strongly. I held my hand to it, trying to keep the blood in. It was hard, being as I needed more strength.

A man finally came, wearing a prison guard uniform and took hold of the woman still there. "Gunshot to the leg," he noted, and then wore an evil smile, "I don't think you'll survive long under my rules."

The woman groaned.

Matt had dropped right down to my side, and I hardly noticed he was there after having satisfaction that the servant was done for.

"Marisol?" he asked.

"I'm still alive," I said wearily, "Where'd she hit me?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. So I hid it better than I thought? Huh.

I removed my hand and Matt gasped, "Marisol!"

"Where'd it hit?" I asked, "I actually can't tell myself, only put my hand where I felt it bleeding."

"Your chest," he said vaguely.

"All right, I figured _that_ part out, but… where?"

He was saved from answering when he said, "Boris! She needs a hospital!" He looked back at me and said, "Stay with me, Marisol, stay with me."

"Does it look like I can leave?" I asked.

"Don't joke with me," he said seriously.

"Why not? I'd like to lighten the mood since it sounds like the wound is around the area where my heart is."

He sighed, "That obvious?"

"Well obviously! Otherwise you wouldn't try so hard not to tell me." My voice, I realized, was becoming to almost less than a whisper.

"Let's get her to the hospital, I think we're losing her," I heard my dad say.

And, for the first time, Matt just picked me up and ran behind my dad. "Stay with us," he said, "I know you can, Marisol."

"I can try." I mumbled softly.

"Marisol!"


	29. Chapter 29

I was gone, and Matt was beside himself when he and my dad finally got me to the hospital. The hospital people took me into the emergency room and gave the two promises that they'd try their best to save me.

My mom and Ace came to the hospital soon after.

They all waited to see how I was doing while the nurses and doctors did surgery on me. Within time of about two hours, one of the nurses came out and everyone stood around her anxiously.

"Calm," she said, "Now Ace, we would like for you to get Julius and bring him here. There's a task only he can do."

"What's that?" my mom asked.

"In place of where your heart is, madam, where she was shot, was her clock instead of the real heart. She'll survive a little longer as long as we take care of her, but we need Julius to fix her clock, and after that she'll be all right."

"I'll go with you, Ace," my mom said, leading him out.

Before they came back with Julius, Matt came into the room where I was lying on the bed. He sat down next to me and held onto one of my hands with both of his. "Stay with me, Marisol," he whispered, "I can't go on without you."

My chest was covered with a blanket, but the nurses had opened it up and took out the clock. It was on the table next to me, completely wrecked.

I could see and hear everything that was going on surprisingly. I lie on the bed, but my spirit or ghost or whatever stood next to Matt. I wanted to comfort him so badly, say it was lucky it wasn't my heart but my clock and that it could be easily fixed. He looked to be in so much pain.

Then the unexpected happened... he leaned forward and kissed me on the lips, saying "Come back, I love you."

If I was awake, my mouth would either dropped open or I would've slapped him. But, I suppose it would've ruined the moment and I likely wouldn't have the energy to slap him well enough to leave a mark. Any ways... now I wasn't sure if I would, it was so loving and caring that I had to wonder. We were close for four years, was it possible we could live the rest of our life as lovers?

"I love you too!" I said, but I had no hope that he'd hear me... I was a half-ghost anyways. But... I actually said it and he heard it. It was a sleepy whisper from me, but his mouth dropped open and he looked like he'd cry of joy. We may annoy each other for the rest of our life but he was the only guy I knew who cared for me... besides of course for the family members I now had.

Julius suddenly rushed in with a whole toolbox, "I need a place to work."

A desk and chair was brought in, he placed the toolbox on it, sat down, and the nurses carefully placed my clock on the desk.

"Leave me," he said, "This isn't for the rest of you to see."

And Matt reluctantly left the room.

I'm not exactly sure how much time passed or what exactly Julius did to save me as I went into the next room away from my body to sit with Matt, though no one could see me, but he did.

Before I knew it, I was back in my body and my eyes opened to look at the room around me. Then, I was surrounded by family members... literally. Aunts and uncles, mom and dad, and cousins.

I was let out the next day, but I was not allowed to walk or do anything stressful. My parents wouldn't even let me have my guns and knives. Said that though I wasn't to have my weapons yet, I would always have someone with me.

"I'm not four." I said to them.

My dad laughed, "Of course you're not, you're twenty, but you need protection now in case anyone else wants to kill you."

I grumbled but I supposed it was fair.

The best part about it I guess was that I would get time with both my parents, or just my dad, or just Matt, or even go to my mom's get-together meetings with her friends. There was Hati, Lucy, and Alicia. Alicia was Wade's mother, and Wade liked spending more time with his father and so didn't come. Neither did Hati's son, Junior. She was the wife of Black Joker, the prison guard that took away the faceless servant. Lucy brought her daughter, Victoria, however, and I actually became very close friends with her.

She was exactly like me in a few ways. The difference was that she was a rabbit. With her mother's blonde hair, but father's animals characteristics, like me. Victoria was extremely fun because she seemed to never run out of energy and was quite a joy to talk to. She kept my mind off of the fact that I wasn't allowed to do anything while I recovered.

When I was with Matt, he would go on about that he was glad I survived.

"Matt, stop thinking over it. I'm lucky it was my clock that was damaged and not my heart, considering you can't just use tools to fix a heart."

"I almost thought I lost you..." he said softly.

I smiled and said, "Which was why you had to take your chance and kiss me."

His eyes widened and he looked up at me open-mouthed.

I laughed. "I was kinda in a sort of ghost form in the room and stood around next to you when you did it. Why else did you think I said 'I love you, too?'"

"I don't know... but I knew it was my only chance to do it without you slapping me."

"And you were right." I said with a wide smile.

"Oh, no, don't smile like that!" he said, covering his eyes with his hands. "I've never seen you do that since we came here and your dad smiled like that. I can't say I'm going to get used to it."

"It's a Cheshire Cat specialty, so father says." I said, chuckling.

He looked up at me and I covered my mouth.

"Hey, don't do that!" he said, pulling my hand away from my face.

"I thought you didn't want to see the Cheshire smile. I was covering my mouth so that if it came up you wouldn't have to worry, because now it just appears on my face, I can't help it, it's a new-found habit."

He smiled, "But then I can't kiss you." And he leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips, this time I could feel it, and it was sensational. When he pulled away, he said, "I hope you weren't hoping for strength to slap me during that."

"No, you won me when you did it the first time. I may be weak, and you're taking advantage of it, but I like it." I said, smiling.

"You're doing that smile again."

"You can't change it." I said.

He smiled then, "Wouldn't want to. It's you I want, so I'm keeping the smile."


End file.
